STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2273

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2790

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 S.B. No. 2790 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for contracted services for the assessment and inventory of the Molokai Irrigation System.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Hoʻomana Pono, LLC; Hawaiʻi Food+ Policy; and one individual.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that the Molokai Irrigation System supplies water to a large portion of Molokai farms, supporting local food production. Your Committee further finds that native Hawaiian beneficiaries living on Molokai homesteads have requested Hawaiian Homes Commission and Department of Hawaiian Home Lands staff to assume control of the Molokai Irrigation System and make land use changes that would allow more families to farm and live on department lands. Your Committee also finds that an assessment, inventory, and analysis of the irrigation system will make the water provided by the irrigation system accessible to homesteads that currently operate without agricultural water.

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 S.B. No. 2790 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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HERBERT M. RICHARDS, III, Chair