Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 6, 1 June 1987 — Escheat of Kuleana Lands [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Escheat of Kuleana Lands

By Clarence F.T. Ching Trustee, Oahu

The 1987 State Legislature is now history. One of the bills that successfully ran the legislative gauntlet was S.B. 548 — Relating to the Escheat of Kuleana Lands. It was sponsored by Hawaiians, lobbied by Hawaiians and will benefit Hawaiians. The bill had its beginning in the Office of Ha-

waiian Affairs when this Trustee asked Jalna Keala, OHA's Government Affairs Officer what, if anything, should be done about Section 532-15 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. This section deals with kuleana lands of deceased persons who die without heirs or successors and was first passed in 1866, not very long after the Great Mahele. It provides that any kuleana interest belonging to a person who dies leaving no surviving kindred would escheat or revert to the owner of the ahupua'a or ili in whieh the parcel had originally formed a part. The law favoring escheat to surrounding landowners had its roots in pre-Mahele Hawaii. Lands of a deceased person would revert to the konohiki in those days. After reversion, it could then be redistributed to a new user as the cycle continued. However, after the Mahele, land redistribution ended and the surrounding landowners kept the windfall kuleana parcels for their own use. There were no further recycling of kuleana lands. Since the lands surrounding kuleanas eame under control almost exclusively by non-Hawaiians, the process became another by whieh Hawaiian lands were lost. The effect of the law was a weird one since all other personal or real property, as it is almost universally treated in other states, escheated to the state. Keala contacted Linda Delaney, OHA's Land and Natural Resources division officer who soon had a proposed bill in hand — one that was based on a bill *■ introduced in the state house back in 1981 by then Representative Kina'u Boyd Kamalii. Senate Bill 548 proposed that the kuleana lands in question revert to OHA instead of the ahupua'a and ili owners or some other agency of the state. The legislators were astounded when they learned of the strange modern results of a once-useful, culturally-inspired law. Those initially testifying for the bill in Senator Clayton Hee's Judiciary Committee were Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation Executive Director Mahealani Ing, HPACH's Richard Kinney and this Trustee. The pattern of cooperation between Hawaiians, whieh was to continue during the entire bill campaign, was set. The bill had no trouble moving out of the Senate. After crossover, however, the bill was dramatically amended in the Water, Land Use, Development and Hawaiian Affairs Committee chaired by Rep. Andrew Levin who opted to have kuleana escheat to the state outright and not to OHA. This bill had no trouble in the House Judiciary Committee headed by Rep. Wayne Metcalf who noted in the accompanying report that he favored OHA receiving these lands. After tense moments in Conference Committee, an (See "Escheat," Fg. 4)

Escheat, from Pg. 2 amended bill — reflecting the original intent — was recommended for final passage. At this writing, the bill is on Governor John Waihee's desk for signing. The main gist of the bill is: "Kuleana lands should not revert to the surrounding land owner, but should revert to OHA." Because OHA does not presently have aland management program, an interim measure was adopted. The State Department of Lands and Natural Resources will hold all such kuleana in trust until OHA develops a land management plan. The agenda for OHA's May board meeting included an item providing for a land management plan. Before long, a plan will be adopted and OHA will begin to fulfill one of the reasons for its being — to hold Hawaiian lands. How OHA sets up the plan so that kuleana parcels will be managed economically to benefit Hawaiians may not be easy. But the challenge will be met. One of the side benefits of this legislation is the fine example of cooperation by "Hawaiian" agencies in solving a eommon problem. In addition to the committees and individuals who played a part in this success, there are numerous legislators, Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian, who took time to write letters and to eall in attempting to clarify issues and to speed the legislation along. Upon the governor's signing the bill into law, and it is expected that he will, all those who had anything to do with the bill's passage deserve a big Mahalo. The foundation will have been laid for a new Hawaiian land base.