HI HCR76

Requests the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and Department of Land and Natural Resources to convene a working group to assess the status and implementation of Act 14 (Special Session Laws of Hawaii 1995) and the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920.

Working group membership shall include representatives from the U.S. Department of Interior, Board of Land and Natural Resources, Hawaiian Homes Commission, Attorney General, Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, and regional homestead associations.

Working group directed to identify Act 14 requirements fulfilled and outstanding, steps needed to finalize outstanding claims, post-July 1, 1988 claims under Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 673, and annual revenues and expenditures from the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust Fund since 1995.

Working group must submit findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation to the Legislature and Hawaiian Home Lands Trust beneficiaries no later than twenty days before the 2022 Regular Session and dissolve by June 30, 2022.

Background notes that over 2,000 beneficiaries have died on the homestead waiting list with 28,000 currently waiting, and the 2020 Hawaii Supreme Court decision in Kalima v. State found the State breached trustee duties under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.