STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3375

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2584

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2584, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE PUBLIC LAND TRUST,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to temporarily increase the total amount of public land trust revenues transferred to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, while reaffirming the State's obligation to the twenty per cent pro rata share pursuant to the Hawaii State Constitution.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one member of the Kauaʻi County Council, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, one member of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaiian Council, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi, Acts of Repentance Task Force of the Hawaiʻi District United Methodist Church, Catholic Charities Hawaiʻi, Moana Ohana, and twenty-nine individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Your Committee finds that the work of the Public Land Trust Working Group to determine the share of funds to be allocated to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs from the Public Land Trust remains ongoing. However, native Hawaiians continue to experience some of the highest rates of housing insecurity, displacement, and economic hardship in the State. Your Committee further finds that the rising cost of living, funding uncertainty of federal programs, and fixed state funding are making it challenging for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to fulfil its mandate to support native Hawaiian communities. This measure would provide a temporary funding increase to enable the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to continue to deliver programs and services for the benefit of the native Hawaiian community in the State.

Your Committee acknowledges the concerns raised in testimony that this measure, in its current form, cannot feasibly be complied with, as the Hawaii State Constitution is silent on how receipts from the Public Land Trust should be apportioned. Additionally, issues such as the amount, percentage, and nature of income or proceeds to be transferred to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs from the Public Land Trust have not yet been determined by the Public Land Trust Working Group.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting legislative findings referring to the State's constitutional and fiduciary obligation to ensure that twenty percent of all income and proceeds derived from the public land trust are transferred to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs;

(2) Deleting language that would have specified that the annual amount to be transferred from the public land trust to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs shall not be less than the amount necessary to satisfy the twenty percent pro rata share required under the Hawaii State Constitution;

(3) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2584, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2584, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs,

________________________________

HERBERT M. RICHARDS, III, Chair