Hawaii eyes fix for a century-old issue in native homestead law

A conference committee vote Tuesday advanced a measure that would let nieces and nephews inherit Hawaiian home leases, keeping ancestral land within extended families.

by Jeremy Yurow, Court House News, April 28, 2026

HONOLULU (CN) — Hawaii lawmakers moved a step closer Tuesday to expanding who can inherit Native Hawaiian homestead leases, approving a compromise version of legislation that supporters say will prevent trust land from slipping out of families’ hands due to a lack of an eligible heir.

The committee quickly adopted Conference Draft 1 of House Bill 2309. All eight members — five from the House and three from the Senate — voted in favor. It now advances to final floor votes in both chambers.

Representative David Tarnas, chair of the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee, opened the meeting by touting the bill.

“This is a very important measure,” he said. “It amends the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act as amended to include siblings’ children as qualifying relatives of lessees for the purposes of lease transfer and lease successorship, the same manner currently allowed for spouses, children, grandchildren and siblings.”

House conferees were led by Tarnas and co-chair Representative Matthias Kusch, with Representatives Kirstin Kahaloa, Mahina Poepoe and Diamond Garcia serving as managers. The Senate side was chaired by Senator Tim Richards III, chair of the Senate Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, with co-chair Senator Mike Gabbard and Senator Samantha DeCorte as manager.

Enacted in 1920 as a form of restitution for Native Hawaiians displaced from their ancestral lands, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act set aside roughly 200,000 acres across the islands for a homesteading program.

Leases are issued at a nominal rent of $1 per year. The program is meant to restore Native Hawaiians’ connection to the land. Because federal law tightly regulates it, succession rules carry outsized weight: They determine whether that connection endures across generations, or is severed when a lessee dies without a legally eligible heir.

Under current law, Hawaiian home leases can be transferred or passed down only to a lessee’s spouse, children, grandchildren or siblings, all subject to blood quantum requirements. House Bill 2309 would add nieces and nephews to that list, allowing lessees to designate a sibling’s child as a successor at the one-quarter Native Hawaiian blood quantum threshold.

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which administers the homestead program, submitted written testimony in support of the measure. Certain lessee beneficiaries, the department noted, have no qualifying relative among those currently listed and have expressed a desire to transfer their leases to Native Hawaiian nieces or nephews. Without a change in the law, those leases can revert to the state.

“This measure simply allows for an expanded opportunity to maintain beneficiary leases within beneficiary families,” Kali Watson, chair of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, wrote in testimony submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs also submitted testimony in support, saying the bill reflects the practical realities of Native Hawaiian family life.

“OHA supports this measure because it expands eligible successorship and reflects the lived reality of Hawaiian ʻohana structures, where extended family members often serve as caregivers and household anchors,” the agency wrote.

The bill cleared both chambers without opposition before differences in technical language triggered a conference committee process.

The Senate’s version introduced drafting changes, including gender-neutral terminology and a reorganized succession hierarchy, that the House declined to accept outright.

Tuesday’s vote followed agreement on a negotiated conference draft. Richards confirmed the Senate had reviewed Conference Draft 1 before the meeting and had received a release from the Finance Committee, clearing the procedural path to an immediate vote.

Because the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act is a federal statute, amendments to it are subject to review by the U.S. Department of the Interior and a congressional review process, separate from state enactment.

Final floor votes in both chambers are expected before the session adjourns May 8.