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Hawaiian Home Lands Trust

In 1921, Congress enacted the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 (HHCA) to provide for homesteading by native Hawaiians, placing approximately 200,000 acres of “available lands” into the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust, with a majority of the lands assuming the status of “Hawaiian home lands.” Hawaiian home lands may be leased to “native Hawaiians,” defined as persons with at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood, for 99-year terms.[1]
 
When Hawaiʻi was admitted as a state in 1959, Congress transferred title to the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust to the State pursuant to the Hawaiʻi Admission Act. The Hawaiian Home Lands Trust is governed by Federal and State law and is administered by the State separately from State public lands. Significantly, the United States reserved the right to sue the State of Hawaiʻi for breaches of trust relating to the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust under section 5(f) of the Admission Act. The HHCA became a cooperative federalism statute, a compound of interdependent Federal and State law that establishes a Federal law framework but also provides for implementation through State law.
 
The State’s Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, governed by the Hawaiian Homes Commission, handles the day-to-day administration of the Trust.
 
Consistent with the provisions of the HHCA and the Admission Act, Congress enacted the Hawaiian Home Lands Recovery Act in 1995 (HHLRA) to, among other things, provide that the Secretary of the Interior shall determine whether a State-proposed amendment to the HHCA requires the consent of the United States under section 4 of the Admission Act. It is appropriately the function of the United States to ensure conformance with the limitations in the Admission Act and protect the integrity of the statutory framework that defines and protects the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust.
 
The HHLRA also clarifies the Secretary’s role in providing oversight of the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust. Section 204(a)(3) of the HHCA, in conjunction with Section 205 of the HHLRA, requires the approval or disapproval of the Secretary for the exchange of lands of the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust.
 
The HHLRA defines the beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust and details the Secretary’s responsibilities to ensure that the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust is administered in a manner that advances the interests of the beneficiaries. Following the HHLRA, the Secretary designated the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget to administer the United States’ responsibilities under the HHCA, Admission Act, and HHLRA.
 
The Office of Native Hawaiian Relations (ONHR) discharges the Secretary’s responsibilities for matters related to the Native Hawaiian Community (NHC) and the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust, and, when appropriate, serves as a conduit for the Department’s field activities in Hawai‘i.
 
 
 
[1] The term ‘‘Native Hawaiian” with an upper case “N” means an individual who is a descendant of the aboriginal people who, prior to 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area that now constitutes the State of Hawaiʻi. When spelled with a lowercase “n,” the term “native Hawaiian” means an individual who meets the definition of ‘‘native Hawaiian” in the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act,  and thus has at least 50 percent Native Hawaiian ancestry.

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