Haw. Rev. Stat. § 207

Current through Act 27 of the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 207 - Leases to Hawaiians, licenses

(a) The department is authorized to lease to native Hawaiians the right to the use and occupancy of a tract or tracts of Hawaiian home lands within the following acreage limits per each lessee:

(1) not more than forty acres of agriculture lands or lands used for aquaculture purposes; or

(2) not more than one hundred acres of irrigated pastoral lands and not more than one thousand acres of other pastoral lands; or

(3) not more than one acre of any class of land to be used as a residence lot; provided that in the case of any existing lease of a farm lot in the Kalanianaole Settlement on Molokai, a residence lot may exceed one acre but shall not exceed four acres in area, the location of such area to be selected by the department; provided further that a lease granted to any lessee may include two detached farm lots or aquaculture lots, as the case may be, located on the same island and within a reasonable distance of each other, one of which, to be designated by the department, shall be occupied by the lessee as the lessee's home, the gross acreage of both lots not to exceed the maximum acreage of an agricultural, pastoral, or aquacultural lot, as the case may be, as provided in this section.

(b) The title to lands so leased shall remain in the State. Applications for tracts shall be made to and granted by the department, under such regulations, not in conflict with any provisions of this title, as the department may prescribe. The department shall, whenever tracts are available, enter into such a lease with any applicant who, in the opinion of the department, is qualified to perform the conditions of such lease.

(c)

(1) The department is authorized to grant licenses as easements for railroads, telephone lines, electric power and light lines, gas mains, and the like. The department is also authorized to grant licenses for lots within a district in which lands are leased under the provisions of this section, for:

(A) Churches, hospitals, public schools, post offices, and other improvements for public purposes; and

(B) Theaters, garages, service stations, markets, stores, and other mercantile establishments (all of which shall be owned by native Hawaiians or by organizations formed and controlled by native Hawaiians).

(2) The department is also authorized to grant licenses to the United States for reservations, roads, and other rights-of-way, water storage and distribution facilities, and practice target ranges.

(3) Any license issued under this subsection shall be subject to such terms, conditions, and restrictions as the department shall determine and shall not restrict the areas required by the department in carrying on its duties, nor interfere in any way with the department's operation or maintenance activities.

HRS § 207

Am Feb. 3, 1923, c 56, §1, 42 Stat 1222; May 16, 1934, c 290, §2, 48 Stat 779; Jul. 10, 1937, c 482, 50 Stat 504; May 31, 1944, c 216, §§3, 4, 58 Stat 264; Jun. 14, 1948, c 464, §§1, 2, 62 Stat 390; Jun. 18, 1954, c 321, §1, 68 Stat 263; Aug. 23, 1958, Pub L 85-733, 72 Stat 822; am L 1963, c 207, §2; am L 1981, c 90, §1; am L 1983, c 125, §2; am L 1984, c 27, §1 and c 37, §2; am L 1985, c 69, §1 and c 159, §2; am L 1997, c 196, §2

In addition to the provisions herein made for leases to native Hawaiians, the Act of June 20, 1938, c 530, §3, 52 Stat 781, after providing for the Kalapana extension to the Hawaii National Park, authorized the Secretary of the Interior to lease home sites herein to native Hawaiians under certain circumstances.

Homesteaders Cooperative Association use of Hoolehua Store building free of rent, subject to certain conditions. L 1959, JR 17.

Revision Note

In subsection (b), "State" substituted for "United States" in view of section 5(b) of Hawaii Admission Act.

Attorney General Opinions

Section does not authorize the commission to grant a permit to occupy Hawaiian homes premises from month to month on a monthly charge basis. Att. Gen. Op. 61-64.

Commission has no authority to permit a lessee to subdivide homestead tract and sublease a portion thereof to daughter. Att. Gen. Op. 61-65.

Neither the department nor any lessee is authorized to develop multi-unit dwellings. Att. Gen. Op. 62-9.

Lands not needed for purposes of Act could be subjected to county zoning regulations. Att. Gen. Op. 72-21.

Law Journals and Reviews

The Lum Court and Native Hawaiian Rights. 14 UH L. Rev. 377.

A Modest Proposal for Determining Class Member Damages: Aggregation and Extrapolation in the Kalima v. State Breach of Homelands Trust Class Action. 34 UH L. Rev. 1 (2012).

As subsection (c)(1)(A) of this Act does not provide a "statutory entitlement" to any entity which may be granted a license pursuant to it, plaintiff energy producer failed to establish that plaintiff's exclusive telecommunications service license issued under this subsection constituted "property" which would entitle plaintiff to due process protection. 110 H. 419, 134 P.3d 585. Where taxpayers failed to allege an injury-in-fact with regard to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act's native Hawaiian ancestry qualification for homestead leases, they did not have standing to challenge the constitutionality of the tax exemptions for homestead lessees or the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act generally. 128 Hawai'i. 89, 283 P.3d 695 (2011).