HI HR113

Requests the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to convene and facilitate a working group to review and recommend improvements to the Island Burial Councils, which are administratively attached to the State Historic Preservation Division.

Working group shall determine ways to strengthen protections and improve resources for Native Hawaiian burials, including examining the Island Burial Councils' duties, responsibilities, and relationship to the State Historic Preservation Division.

Working group membership includes eight members: representatives from the State Historic Preservation Division, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, each Island Burial Council, Department of Attorney General, William S. Richardson School of Law, one Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, and one island burial lineal descendant.

Working group is requested to review existing statutes and administrative rules pertaining to Island Burial Councils and develop recommendations for a statewide survey and inventory documenting historic properties where burial sites exist or may exist.

Working group must submit a report of findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2022.