Lahaina News - March 19, 2020 Senate Bill 749 was successful when passing through the Senate chambers without opposition; but, when the measure crossed over to the House for consideration, it came to a grinding halt.
State Public Access Room Coordinator Virginia Beck updated the Lahaina News.
"It looks like it got referred to WLH (Water, Land & Hawaiian Affairs Committee); JUD (Judiciary Committee); and FIN (Finance Committee).
"That means that it has to have been heard by WLH, passed, and the committee report filed by the Triple Referral Filing deadline, which is tomorrow.
It hasn't been scheduled for a hearing. So, barring any miracles, it looks like it will die."
And it died, like the claims made by many of the Kuleana landowners throughout the years.
According to the nonprofit Ka Lahui Hawaii, "Kuleana lands were granted to Kanaka Maoli tenant farmers between 1850 and 1855 and include gathering, access, and agricultural rights as well as the right to build a dwelling.
"Only 8,205 Kanaka Maoli received Kuleana lands that account for less than one percent of Hawaiian Kingdom lands. Many of these awards were adversely possessed by corporations like sugar and pineapple plantations, but a precious few are still in the same families today keeping their ancestral tie to their lands...."
Thursday, March 19, 2020
BILL WOULD HELP HAWAIIANS FIGHT QUIET TITLE ACTIONS
With no opposition, Senate Bill 749 Passed Third Reading on March 3 and was transmitted to the House.
The bill for an act relating to actions for quiet title was referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary (JDC) on Jan. 24, 2019, and was carried over to the 2020 Regular Session at the end of last year.
The purpose and intent of the measure is to: "(1) Require mandatory mediation upon request of any defendant in a quiet title action when any portion of the land claimed by the plaintiff is kuleana land; and (2) Provide that the plaintiff shall bear the reasonable costs of the mediation and limit the costs recoverable."
Testimony was received in support of SB749 from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Ka Lahui Hawaii Political Action Committee; We are One, Inc.; 29 individuals; and a form letter containing 99 signatories.
The form letter helps to explain the legalese and reasoning behind the measure. "Kuleana lands were granted to Kanaka Maoli tenant farmers between 1850 and 1855 and include gathering, access, and agricultural rights as well as the right to build a dwelling.
"Only 8,205 Kanaka Maoli received Kuleana lands that account for less than one percent of Hawaiian Kingdom lands. Many of these awards were adversely possessed by corporations like sugar and pineapple plantations, but a precious few are still in the same families today keeping their ancestral tie to their lands.
"Having paid fees and taxes for these lands for over 170 years, many of these families don't have the economic means of hiring attorneys for costly court cases to defend their lands.
"Mandatory mediation and consolidation of quiet title actions helps to reduce costs for Kanaka Maoli Kuleana land owners.
"Consolidating separate quiet title actions into one for the same kuleana land award will keep costs down for the defendants and prevent the Plaintiff from saying one thing in one case and another in another case.
"Plaintiffs shall bear the cost of mediation or other court fees. There should be no situation where the defendants should have to bear the cost of mediation in order for someone trying to quiet title or 'legally steal' their lands."
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) agreed with the testimony in support of SB749, but in different words.
"Kuleana land parcels (kuleana), many of which have been passed down from original awardees through multiple generations of heirs, often represent the last vestige of the legal recognition originally granted to Native Hawaiian families' traditional tenure of ancestral lands.
"Today, maintaining a connection to family kuleana continues to be critical for many Native Hawaiians to maintain a connection to their ancestors and ancestral lands, as well as to uphold the traditional practices, lifestyles, and values that derive from their cultural and family heritage."
Further, the OHA letter explains how quiet title and adverse possession have been used to "forcibly sever the connection between Native Hawaiian families and their kuleana."
"The current framework of quiet title action continues to leave kuleana vulnerable to dispossession, including through the use of complex and cost-prohibitive legal processes that effectively foreclose quiet title defendants, i.e. kuleana owners, from challenging quiet title actions and adverse possession claims...."
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
FREE HAWAI`I TV
THE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK "HELP SAVE HAWAIIAN LANDS"
Hereʻs An Easy Way To Help Stop The Stealing Of Hawaiian Lands.
Thereʻs A Bill Before The Hawai`i Senate That Needs Your Support.
This Bill Would Help Stop Quiet Title Actions On Kuleana Lands.
Hawai`i Public Radio - By Ku`uwehi Hiraishi - July 6, 2017 For the first time in more than a century, land titles held by Hawai`i’s former sugar companies are being opened to challenge. At their peak in the 1930s, sugar plantations cultivated approximately 250,000 acres across the island chain. As plantations have sold off much of those holdings, attempts by new landowners to clear title are proving more challenging than imagined. "Kaua`ula Valley is one quiet little place that was historically abundant with thousands and thousands of taro patches," says Ke`eaumoku Kapu. "My lineal ties to Kaua`ula is both sides of my mother and father’s side. When the jury made the decision it was based upon my genealogical connection of five generations." A 15-year court battle on Maui came to an end for Ke`eaumoku Kapu when a jury declared him the rightful heir to a 3.5 acre parcel in Kaua`ula. The land was originally awarded to his family in 1857 under what is known as the Kuleana Act of 1850. Attorney Lance Collins represented Kapu. "The Kuleana Act allowed individuals to make claims for the parcels that they were living and growing things on," explains Collins, "I think 21,000 or 22,000 claims were made and I think it was like 12,000 claims were granted." Land Commission Award 6507, ‘Āpana 1 was granted to Kapu’s great-great grand uncle Apa`a. Pioneer Mill Company cultivated sugar in Lahaina for 138 years from 1862 - 1999. Five years later Pioneer Sugar Mill began operations in Lahaina, expanding its reach to nearly all of the available land in the district by the 1890s. "Pioneer Mill in 1999 started selling off a lot of their holdings," says Kapu, "They sold 5,000 acres for $50 million to West Maui Land Company and not long after that, they started filing all these quiet title adverse possession claims." New landowners commonly establish clear title by filing quiet title lawsuits, and thus “quiet” any challenges or claims to the property by descendants of kuleana land owners, like Kapu. "The case was brought by Makila Land Company, which is an affiliate of West Maui Land Company," says Collins, "They claimed that they owned this because they got a deed from Pioneer Mill who in 1892 got it from a person claiming to be related to the original awardee of the land commission award." Over four days, Collins convinced the second circuit court jury that person did not exist--making Kapu the rightful heir to the property. "There's no evidence that this person existed," says Collins, "It appears that somebody just made it up, 'Oh I’m related to so and so and I’m giving it to Pioneer Mill.' In those cases, all of it is subject to challenge." As more and more former plantation lands are bought up across the island state, quiet title actions will likely continue. "I hope this can serve as a template for others who are seeking redemption for their families and their kuleana lands," says Kapu.
