Hawaiian Homelands: Hawaii's Efforts to Address Land Use Issues (Letter
Report, 05/26/94, GAO/RCED-94-24).

Although the Interior and Justice Departments maintain that the federal
government has never had a trust responsibility to native Hawaiians, the
state of Hawaii disagrees. Hawaiian state courts and the state's
Attorney General have concluded that the federal government had a trust
responsibility during the territorial period, and the state's Attorney
General believes that such a responsibility continues today. In GAO's
opinion, territorial governors lacked authority to withdraw Hawaiian
homelands for nonfederal public purposes through executive orders and
proclamations. However, many of these unauthorized withdrawals appear to
have (1) benefitted native Hawaiians or (2) involved lands that were
unsuitable for authorized homeland uses, such as homesteading or
leasing, during the territorial period. Territorial governors also
lacked authority under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act to withdraw
homelands for federal purposes through executive orders or other means.
Because such withdrawals took place more than 50 years ago, there is no
guarantee that all information relevant to these withdrawals is still
available. Therefore, GAO is unable to express an opinion on the
propriety of homeland withdrawals for federal purposes. GAO believes
that the methodology used by a consultant to the state to estimate the
lost income from and the current market value for parcels of lands was
generally reasonable.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  RCED-94-24
     TITLE:  Hawaiian Homelands: Hawaii's Efforts to Address Land Use 
             Issues
      DATE:  05/26/94
   SUBJECT:  Federal/state relations
             Compensation claims
             Land transfers
             Land management
             Judicial opinions
             Public lands
             Fair market value
             Losses
             Land use agreements
             Land use law
IDENTIFIER:  Hawaii
             Lualualei (HA)
             
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