Bill Text: HI HR154 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requesting The Bureau Of Conveyances To Conduct Or Commission A Study To Determine The Rightful Owners Of Land In And Around Lahaina.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-14 - Referred to WAL, FIN, referral sheet 22 [HR154 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2024-HR154-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.R. NO. |
154 |
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THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE RESOLUTION
Requesting the Bureau of Conveyances to conduct or commission a study to Determine THE rightful owners of land in and around Lahaina.
WHEREAS, in January of 1893, Sanford B. Dole, along with a small group of individuals with business interests in Hawaii and aided by the United States Minister to Hawaii and the United States Marines, organized an unprovoked invasion on the Hawaiian Kingdom (Hawaii Pae Aina), leading to the imprisonment of Queen Liliuokalani and seizure of 1.75 million acres of crown land; and
WHEREAS, on December 18, 1893, President Grover Cleveland acknowledged in his message to the United States Congress that the Hawaiian Kingdom was unlawfully invaded by United States marines on January 16, 1893, which led to an illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian government; and
WHEREAS, in 1993, a joint resolution of the United States Congress and President William Clinton acknowledged and apologized for the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the historical significance of this event, which resulted in the suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the Native Hawaiian people; and
WHEREAS, long-time Lahaina residents know of cases where land was simply taken by individuals who did not have legal right to said land; for example, plantation owners began extending their crops onto adjacent parcels that were unoccupied but not legally theirs; and
WHEREAS, it can be argued that the American-based structural systems implemented after the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom were foreign and unfamiliar to native Hawaiians (kanaka maoli), which benefitted those who understood the American system and resulted in massive land dispossession to the detriment of kanaka maoli; and
WHEREAS, one hundred thirty-one years after the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, disproportionately high rates of kanaka maoli experience poverty, homelessness, incarceration, suicide, heart disease, diabetes, and addiction; and
WHEREAS, many kanaka maoli have left Hawaii, possibly due to unfavorable living conditions in the State; and
WHEREAS, for example, population data released by the United States Census 2020 shows that more Native Hawaiians live on the continent (fifty-three percent) than in Hawaii (forty-seven percent); and
WHEREAS, kanaka maoli as well as other residents of Hawaii feel the urgent need to protect their homeland from further take-over and possible erasure of what was intended by the distribution of land in the Mahale starting in 1848; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, that the Bureau of Conveyances is requested to conduct or commission a study to determine the rightful owners of parcels of land in and around Lahaina in order to legally restore the land to the rightful owners while planning for the rebuilding of Lahaina; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Registrar of the Bureau of Conveyances.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Bureau of Conveyances; Lahaina; Rightful Land Owners; Study
