HI SCR104

Urges Hawaii's congressional delegation to re-introduce and support the Hawaiian Home Lands Preservation Act (H.R. Res. 9614) to lower the minimum blood quantum requirement for Department of Hawaiian Home Lands successor lessee beneficiaries from one-quarter to one thirty-second Native Hawaiian blood.

Acknowledges that the current one-half blood quantum requirement for homestead lease eligibility will eventually bar all new applicants, frustrating the purpose of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920.

Notes that Hawaii already reduced the blood quantum requirement to one thirty-second through Act 80 (Session Laws of Hawaii 2017) for certain successor lessees, but federal Congressional approval is required for the change to become fully effective.

References the 28,700 beneficiaries currently on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands waitlist and the State's $320,000,000 settlement obligation resulting from the Kalima v. State Supreme Court decision regarding breach of trust.

Emphasizes the United States' and State's fiduciary duty to support rehabilitation of the Hawaiian people through ensuring long-term homestead tenancies remain available to beneficiaries and their successors.