Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 5, 1 May 2012 — Kuleana landowners [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kuleana landowners

The Kuleana Act of 1850 granted title to several thousand native tenants, or

maka'āinana. As the years have passed, the values of these properties have escalated. As a result, skyrocketing real property taxes have heeome unaffordable to our owners. Kudos to Trustee Rowena Akana for continuing years of

efforts to allow our kuleana lands exempted from property taxes. Having lands that were passed down from generation to generation is a lasting legacy of the Hawaiian monarchy. Many of our people cannot afford these escalated taxes and as a result have had to sell their valuable properties. It is important that all kuleana landowners heeome aware of the property tax relief available to them. For example, in the Maui County Code 3.48.554 Exemption - Kuleana Land, it states: "(D. 3) For the purpose of this section, 'kuleana land' means those lands granted to native tenants pursuant to L.1850, p.202, entitled 'An act confirming certain resolutions of the king and privy eouneil, passed on the 2 1 st Day of December, A.D. 1849, granting to the eommon people allodial titles for their own lands and house lots, and certain other privileges,' as amended by L.1851, p. 98, entitled 'an act to amend an act granting to the eommon people allodial titles for their own lands and house lots, and certain other privileges' and as further amended by any subsequent legislation."

It further states, "(A) Those portions of real property designated as kuleana land, shall be exempt from paying real property taxes

if: 1. The property is owned in whole or in part by a lineal descendant of the person(s) who received the original title to the kuleana land; 2. The portion of the property designated as kuleana land is not used for eommercial purposes (D.2 "Commercial Pur-

poses" means the processing, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, or sale of goods, or the provision of services for eonsideration and profit, including the operation of transient vacation rental and bed and breakfast homes, but shall exclude agriculture.); and 3. An application for exemption is filed with, and approved by, the director." "Forpurposes of determining whether the lineal descendancy requirement in subsection A. 1 has been satisfied, genealogy verification by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs or by court order shall be deemed sufficient," as quoted by Section C in the Maui County Code 3.48.554. I encourage all of you who qualify as kuleana landowners to contact our office for application information. For those of you who have called me on this matter, I am more than happy to be of assistance to you. For information about the genealogy verification process, contact our Kuleana Land Survey Call Center at (808) 5941967. Aloha! ■

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Carmen "Hulu" Lindsey TrustEE, Maui