Make your voice heard by submitting testimony to pass the PLT bill. Call on the State of Hawaiʻi to make things pono and give Native Hawaiians the money they are owed.

To get notifications about PLT bill hearings sign up for Action Alerts at:

The post Fulfilling the State’s Public Land Trust Obligation to Native Hawaiians appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

In March 2020, Ka Wai Ola ran a story about the Chang-Kukahiko ʻohana of Makena, Maui, who for years has struggled to pay astronomical property taxes to hold on to the ʻāina their ʻohana has lived on for nearly 140 years, and where many of their kūpuna are buried.

Decades of resort development and real estate speculation in Makena – including the construction of multi-million dollar mansions along the coastline of this former fishing community – has resulted in property taxes so high that by the 1980s, most of the residents of this once predominantly Hawaiian community had to sell their land to avoid foreclosure. Today only a small handful of families remain on their ʻāina kūpuna in Makena.

For these families, and other ʻohana in Maui County facing the same issue, relief may be in sight.

Maui County Councilmember Keani Rawlins-Fernandez has introduced “A Bill for an Ordinance Relating to ʻĀina Kūpuna Lands,” which would amend the county tax code relative to real property taxes for land dedicated as “ʻāina kūpuna.” The bill was passed out of the Budget, Finance, and Economic Development Committee on September 29 with two amendments and more than 200 testifying in support.

The bill identifies “ʻāina kūpuna” as land owned, in whole or part, by a lineal descendant, or a trust, nonprofit organization or similar entity where the majority of shareholders are lineal descendants, of the person who held title to that property on or before June 30, 1940.

“Legislation to protect Kānaka ʻŌiwi on their ancestral ʻāina should have been passed long ago, but thankfully we are passing it into law now to prevent more ʻohana kupa from being priced out,” said Rawlins-Fernandez. “I would be honored to work with our counterparts on the other county councils to pass similar legislation to benefit Kānaka ʻŌiwi.”

If signed into law, the bill would allow the lineal descendants of ʻohana land to “dedicate” their land as ʻāina kūpuna. ʻOhana lands dedicated as ʻāina kūpuna would be levied the minimum annual property tax (about $350/year in Maui County). During the 10-year dedication period, the land cannot be sold to a non-lineal descendant. To maintain ʻāina kūpuna status, ʻohana must renew the dedication before the 10-year period ends.

For ʻohana like the Chang-Kukahikos property tax relief cannot come soon enough.

“Our property tax last year for the Kukahiko Hale was $73,192.11, and this year’s tax was $83,311.08,” said ‘ohana representative Keiki Kawaiʻaeʻa. “Our tax debt for the past two years, plus late fees and penalties during the COVID pandemic is now $177,495.11.

“The tax keeps escalating with each high-end speculation house that is sold in the community. Most of these new owners are not residents of Hawaiʻi and when they purchase these high-end homes, local and long-time kamaʻāina families are pushed out from their ancestral lands by property taxes that end up being levied way beyond what local family incomes can afford. This bill is the first of its kind that acknowledges the struggle and provides much needed support to ʻohana with ʻāina kūpuna.”

After its success in the Budget, Finance, and Economic Development committee, the bill moved forward to the full council. The bill will require a majority vote each time at two separate council meetings, pursuant to council rules. It will then be sent to Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino for signature.

Assuming the bill is successful in changing Maui County’s tax code, it will set a precedent for other counties to consider similar tax relief for Native Hawaiians and other long-time kamaʻāina and multi-generational families who are being taxed out of their homes.

The Maui County Real Property Assessment Division is already accepting contact information from potential ʻāina kūpuna applicants, as the deadline to apply for the current fiscal year will be December 31, 2021.

Interested property owners should email rpa@co.maui.hi.us to request placement on the ʻāina kūpuna application mailing list. The email should include the following information: name, the TMK for the property, and a mailing address. The division plans to mail applications to those on the list, and to upload the application to the mauipropertytax.com “forms” link within two to three weeks after the bill is formally passed.

Additionally, as a result of separate legislation related to Kuleana Lands, a new application form for exemptions under Maui County Code 3.48.554 Kuleana Land and Kuleana Act Government Grant Land is now available on the mauipropertytax.com “forms” link.

To read the original article about the Chang-Kukahiko ʻohana’s fight to hold on to their ‘āina kūpuna and watch the Taxed Out video go to: www.kawaiola.news/cover/taxed-out/

The post ʻĀina Kūpuna Tax Relief Bill Moves Forward appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

By Kamaile Maldanado

On July 2, 2019, Governor Ige signed into law the broadest criminal justice reform measure Hawai‘i has seen in recent history. Realizing years of work by experts and stakeholders, including OHA, Act 179 puts our corrections system on a path towards a more rehabilitative and therapeutic model – one that can reduce our incarcerated population, keep offenders from re-offending, and address the ever-increasing human and financial costs of our jails and prisons.

Hawai‘i has not escaped the mass incarceration phenomenon that has swept the United States over recent decades. Since the 1970s, Hawai‘i’s jail and prison populations have skyrocketed, increasing by 670%, and forcing Hawai‘i to now house over 20% of its prisoners in private, for-profit prisons on the continent.

The costs of our ever-increasing incarceration rates are inexcusably high. Hawai‘i taxpayers spend over $66,000 per inmate or over $220 million annually on corrections costs. Inmates share cells often at double their intended capacity; inmate deaths and sexual assaults are of increasing concern; and limited rehabilitation and reintegration programs result in high recidivism rates and little prospects for pa‘ahao and their families even after their sentences have been served. And these burdens rest most heavily on Native Hawaiians, who are overrepresented in our incarcerated population and at all stages in our criminal justice system.

To address these costs, the legislature created two task forces, both with OHA representation, to examine our criminal justice system and recommend reforms. After several years of work, in late 2018, the HCR85 Task Force on Prison Reform and the HCR134 Task Force on Pretrial Reform submitted their reports to the legislature; this year, several measures were introduced to implement the task forces’ recommendations. After a draining session full of inspired passion and careful compromise, many of these measures coalesced into a single, omnibus vehicle, HB1552. Signed into law as Act 179, this measure will now bring several key changes to Hawai‘i’s criminal justice system, including:

• Establishing an Oversight Commission: A new five-member commission, including an OHA appointee, will provide oversight over the Hawai‘i State Department of Public Safety and help transition its corrections approach from a punitive model to a more rehabilitative, therapeutic and cost-effective one.
• Requiring fairer bail determinations: Bail reports must include more comprehensive information, and defendants’ ability to pay must be considered in setting bail amounts.
• Making our pretrial system more efficient: The bail process must follow a shorter timeframe, and reduce unnecessary burdens on defendants and the state.
• Collecting better data to develop stronger policies: A new Statewide Criminal Pretrial Justice Data system will offer better measures of our pretrial system, while a new Criminal Justice Research Institute will continue examining all aspects of our criminal justice system to inform future potential reforms.

While Act 179 does not include all of the recommendations developed by Hawai‘i’s leading experts, it nonetheless represents a historic and much-needed step to reform our jails and prisons, and address the ever-growing costs of our correctional institutions on Hawai‘i’s taxpayers, pa‘ahao and communities.

See the recent criminal justice reform task force reports at www.oha.org/criminaljustice.

The post Tackling the mass incarceration crisis: historic criminal justice reform legislation signed into law appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.