(1) The United States of America and the State 
of Hawaii have a fiduciary duty to support the reha-
bilitation of the Hawaiian people, in part by ensur-
ing long-term tenancies to beneficiaries and succes-
sors of beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Com-
mission Act, 1920. 
(2) In advocating for the Hawaiian Homes 
Commission Act, Prince Jonah Ku¯hio¯ Kalanianaole, 
the Territory of Hawaii’s non-voting delegate to 
Congress, anticipated future interracial marriages of 
the Hawaiian people and originally advocated for a 
blood quantum requirement of 1⁄32 to perpetuate na-
tive Hawaiian presence on the land. However, Dele-
gate Ku¯hio¯ compromised for a 50 percent blood 
quantum requirement to get a homestead lease as a 
necessary concession to powerful sugar and ranching 
interests. At the time of the creation of the Hawai-
ian Homes Commission Act, a 1⁄32 blood quantum 
essentially meant that anyone who had Hawaiian an-
cestry would qualify for the Hawaiian homesteading 
program. 
(3) Realizing that native Hawaiians were being 
quickly displaced from their land due to interracial 
marriages the State of Hawaii and the United 
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States of America lowered the blood quantum re-
quirement for qualified lessee successors— 
(A) to 25 percent for spouse and children 
on October 27, 1986; 
(B) to 25 percent for grandchildren on 
June 27, 1997; and 
(C) to 25 percent for brothers and sisters 
on April 20, 2005. 
(4) One hundred years later, many descendants 
of qualified Hawaiian home lands beneficiaries do 
not qualify as successors because interracial mar-
riages and blended families produce descendants who 
are less than 25 percent Hawaiian. These disrup-
tions create undue hardships of displacement and 
interfere with families’ abilities to maintain the eq-
uity of their homes and businesses. 
(5) Throughout the entire history of the Hawai-
ian Homes Commission Act, as of December 31, 
2021, less than 10,000 residential, agricultural, and 
pastoral leases have been issued while a backlog of 
46,307 lease applications held by 28,971 native Ha-
waiians remains. 
(6) In 2020, the median age of an applicant on 
the Application Waiting List was 59 years compared 
to 57 in 2014. Further, in 2020, 35 percent of the 
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applicants were over age 65 compared to 16 percent 
in 2003. The increase in the upper age ranges have 
increased the median age of the applicants on the 
Application Waiting List by two years. The urgency 
for applicants to designate successors will only grow 
as the median age of applicants on the Application 
Waiting List increases. 
(7) Consistent with trust law and applicable 
State duties, the government is required to explore 
and identify solutions that are just and equitable for 
all beneficiaries, irrespective of their leasehold stand-
ing. 
(8) A reduction in blood quantum requirements 
for successor lessees and applicants on the Applica-
tion Waiting List is an important step to continue 
access to the Hawaiian Home Lands program and to 
prevent generationally held homestead leases from 
being lost when elderly lessees or applicants on the 
Application Waiting List, many of whom are older 
than 70 years of age, die without a qualified suc-
cessor. 
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE HAWAIIAN HOMES COMMIS-
SION ACT, 1920. 
For the purposes of the requirements of section 4 of 
the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide for the admission of 
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the State of Hawaii into the Union’’, approved March 18, 
1959 (73 Stat. 4), the consent of the United States shall 
be deemed to be granted with respect to an amendment 
to Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, adopted by 
the State of Hawaii in the manner required for State legis-
lation, that amends section 209 to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 209. SUCCESSORS TO LESSEES AND APPLICANTS ON 
THE APPLICATION WAITING LIST. 
‘‘(a) Upon the death of the lessee, the lessee’s interest 
in the tract or tracts and the improvements thereon, in-
cluding growing crops and aquacultural stock (either on 
the tract or in any collective contract or program to which 
the lessee is a party by virtue of the lessee’s interest in 
the tract or tracts), shall vest in the relatives of the dece-
dent as provided in this subsection. The lessee shall des-
ignate the person or persons to whom the lessee directs 
the lessee’s interest in the tract or tracts to vest upon the 
lessee’s death from the following relatives of the lessee who 
are at least 1⁄32 native Hawaiian: 
‘‘(1) spouse, children, grandchildren, brothers, 
or sisters; 
‘‘(2) a father and mother; 
‘‘(3) widows or widowers of the children; 
‘‘(4) widows or widowers of the brothers and 
sisters; or 
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‘‘(5) nieces and nephews. 
‘‘(b) The Hawaiian blood requirements shall not 
apply to the descendants of those who are not native Ha-
waiians, but who were entitled to the leased lands under 
section 3 of the Act of May 16, 1934 (48 Stat. 777, 779) 
or under section 3 of the Act of July 9, 1952 (66 Stat. 
511, 513). 
‘‘(c) In the case of the death of an applicant while 
on the department’s Application Waiting List, the position 
on the Application Waiting List held by the applicant shall 
vest in the relatives of the decedent as provided in this 
subsection. The applicant shall designate the person in 
whom the position on the Application Waiting List shall 
vest from the following relatives of the applicant who are 
at least 1⁄32 native Hawaiian: 
‘‘(1) spouse, children, grandchildren, brothers, 
or sisters; 
‘‘(2) a father and mother; 
‘‘(3) widows or widowers of the children; 
‘‘(4) widows or widowers of the brothers and 
sisters; or 
‘‘(5) nieces and nephews. 
‘‘(d) Person or persons designated under subsection 
(a) or (c) are not required to be 18 years of age or older. 
The designation shall be in writing, may be specified at 
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the time of execution of the lease with a right in the lessee 
in similar manner to change the beneficiary at any time 
and shall be filed with the department and approved by 
the department in order to be effective to vest the interests 
in the successor or successors so named. 
‘‘(e) Except as provided in subsection (b), in case of 
the death of any lessee or applicant on the Application 
Waiting List, who has failed to specify a successor or suc-
cessors as approved by the department, the department 
may select from only the following qualified relatives of 
the decedent: 
‘‘(1) Spouse. 
‘‘(2) If there is no spouse, then the children. 
‘‘(3) If there is no spouse or child, then the 
grandchildren. 
‘‘(4) If there is no spouse, child, or grandchild, 
then brothers or sisters. 
‘‘(5) If there is no spouse, child, grandchild, 
brother, or sister, then from the following relatives 
of the lessee— 
‘‘(A) father and mother; 
‘‘(B) widows or widowers of the children; 
‘‘(C) widows or widowers of the brothers 
and sisters; or 
‘‘(D) nieces and nephews. 
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ment of which has been assured by the department, owed 
by the deceased lessee or the previous lessee. 
‘‘(h) Payments under subsection (g) shall be made 
out of the Hawaiian home loan fund and shall be consid-
ered an advance therefrom and shall be repaid by the suc-
cessor or successors to the tract involved. If available cash 
in the Hawaiian home loan fund is insufficient to make 
these payments, payments may be advanced from the Ha-
waiian home general loan fund and shall be repaid by the 
successor or successors to the tract involved. Any repay-
ment for advances made from the Hawaiian home general 
loan fund shall be at the interest rate established by the 
department for loans made from the Hawaiian home gen-
eral loan fund. The successor or successors may be re-
quired by the commission to obtain private financing in 
accordance with section 208(6) to pay off the amount ad-
vanced from the Hawaiian home loan fund or Hawaiian 
home general loan fund.’’. 
SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY CLAUSE. 
This Act and the amendments made by this Act to 
the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, are declared 
to be severable. If any section, sentence, clause, or phrase, 
or the application thereof to any person or circumstance 
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is held ineffective the remainder of the amendments or the 
application thereof shall not be affected. 
Æ 
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