HONOLULU — Gov. Josh Green on Friday morning signed into law 13 bills committed to supporting the Native Hawaiian community. The bills extend a fund for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands housing waitlist, address Native Hawaiian education and support regenerative tourism, among other things.
“I just wanted to make sure everyone knows we’re totally committed to working together at all times, and there are so many layers to this, whether it was FestPAC or as we recover from Maui, making sure that Mokuula goes back to the people of Maui. We totally respect everyone’s manao on all of these issues,” Green said at the bill-signing ceremony in his office at the state Capitol. “My hope is that after a few years, people realize that that’s in my heart.”
Senate Bill 3109 extends the usage period of a $600 million DHHL special fund to reduce the department’s homestead waitlist.
“It’s difficult, in just the climate of Hawai‘i, to build, to develop,” Green said about addressing the waitlist, “so (the Legislature is) giving us some grace time to work on that.”
The fund, which will be used to develop housing, purchase land and provide housing assistance and funding for applicants on the waitlist, was appropriated in 2022. State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole (D, Kaneohe-Kailua) said being a part of that legislation was “a great, great honor” but that “it’s all for nothing if that money lapses before the department is allowed to send it out.”
“The department and the commission have been nimble, but they’ve been aggressive and responsible with the money. It’s not always been easy, and the community doesn’t always agree on the path forward,” Keohokalole, who also serves as co-chair of the Native Hawaiian Legislative Caucus, said. “The beneficiaries deserve the right, as the governor said, to have input, to have a say, in how that money is facilitated, but ultimately, I think the department deserves the time necessary to make sure that we spend that money in the interest of the waitlisters.”
DHHL Director Kali Watson said the department has encumbered approximately $471 million of the $600 million fund across 28 projects. With the extension of the fund, Watson said, the department is looking at “generating close to 6,000 additional homesteads.”
“The reality is we have so many people dying on this waitlist, so we have to really, really get active,” he said.
The bill will also explore revenue-generating opportunities from controlled lands in order to further assist DHHL beneficiaries.
Green also signed two bills related to Hawaiian-language education. House Bill 2074, which mandates the state Department of Education to create a comprehensive strategic plan for Kaiapuni, or Hawaiian-language immersion, education, and appropriates around $3.5 million to create new Kaiapuni teaching and curriculum positions within the department.
“Your language is the spine of culture, and if we can’t protect and support our emerging Hawaiian immersion schools, we probably won’t make it culturally, so that is extraordinary,” Green said about HB 2074.
Green said that there’s been a 60 percent increase in the number of students enrolled in Kaiapuni schools, indicative of the need for further resources dedicated to supporting the programs.
State Rep. Daniel Holt (D, Sand Island-Iwilei- Chinatown) said that there were many advocates in support of the bill, with legislators receiving approximately 100 pieces of testimony each time the bill was heard.
“(The support) is just naturally from the community, because they know how important this is, to add so much money towards specific education of our Hawaiian language, which is definitely the life of our culture,” Holt, the other co-chair of the Native Hawaiian Legislative Caucus, said.
SB 2937 permanently exempts the College of Hawaiian Languages at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo from English-medium standards, allowing students to receive Hawaiian-language instruction without the constraints of English- language standards.
“The key to ensuring a quality Hawaiian-language education experience focused on language revitalization is being able to provide and prioritize fluency,” Ka‘iu Kimura, director of the Ka Haka Ula o Ke‘elikolani College of Hawaiian Languages at UH Hilo, said.
“Therefore, the requirements, standards and assessments that we set for determining educational success must be done through a lens that is focused on achieving this success through fluency in Hawaiian — an outcome that is precluded if these programs are subject to English-medium measures.”
This, Kimura said, will allow the preschools and laboratory schools the college operates statewide to continue their programs under the standards created specifically for Hawaiian- language immersion.
“I think there’s going to constantly be work to support Hawaiian language,” Green said about both bills. “After all, it is one of our languages for our state, period, so I’m thankful that we’re doing this.”
Finally, Green highlighted SB 2659, which addresses the state’s commitment to regenerative tourism by updating the state’s visitor industry policy to prioritize sustainable development, cultural integrity and economic diversification.
“This is going to modernize our functional plan that helps align all sorts of things. We’re not just aligning tourism and culture, but we’re also trying to blend it with our phased climate sustainability plan. If we don’t do that, we won’t have a Hawai‘i,” Green said. “It takes significant steps towards cultural sensitivity and sustainability. It makes us more equitable.”
Green also signed nine other bills in Friday’s legislative package, including bills that addressed the regulation of archaeological activities, clarified conditions necessary for leasing government-owned Hawaiian fishponds and amended the date of Makahiki Commemoration Day.
