OPPOSE Senate Bill 895 which establishes the offense of criminal trespass onto state lands to the penal code. Amends the offenses of criminal trespass in the second degree to apply to government agricultural property regardless of whether it is fenced, enclosed, or otherwise secured. Punishable by 30 days in Jail.

Submit testimony to the House Committee on Judiciary at www.capitol.hawaii.gov to ensure that Senate Bill 895 doesnʻt get passed.

OPPOSE House Bill 1142 which adds the offense of criminal trespass onto Department of Transportation lands to the penal code.  Punishable by 30 days in Jail.  THIS BILL has been DEFERRED!

Submit testimony to the House Committee on Judiciary at www.capitol.hawaii.gov to ensure that Senate Bill 895 doesnʻt get passed.

• Hawaiian rights to access lands for traditional, customary, and subsistence purposes are recognized in the Hawaii State Constitution (1978) Article XII Section 7 which gives the government a duty to “protect all rights customarily and traditionally exercised for subsistence, cultural and religious purposes.”
• The Hawaiian people has a right to over 1.8 million acres of the former Crown and government lands of the Kingdom of Hawaii which were illegally transferred to the US and as a condition of Statehood.
• Much of the lands currently held by DOT are public trust lands where the traditional, customary, and subsistence access and gathering rights of the Hawaiian people are reserved and have been since the time of the Māhele (1848) and Kuleana Act of 1850.
• The right to access lands was reconfirmed by the court in the Kalipi vs. Hawaiian Trust (1982) case.
• The cultural and customary access rights of the Hawaiian people were further expanded in the courts in the Paty vs. Pele Defense Fund (1992) and in the Public Access and Shoreline vs. Hawaii County Planning Commission (1995) court decisions.
• This bill criminalizes Hawaiian rights to access public lands for traditional, customary, and subsistence purposes and provides no accommodations and protections for Hawaiians and initially assumes guilt -putting the burden of legal protection of rights upon the Hawaiian people.
• This coupled with the fact that the Hawaiian people as a group are socio-economically challenged would give undue hardship and stress to the people of the ‘āina (land).

CROWN AND GOVERNMENT LANDS UNDER STATE CONTROL

DOT HARBORS

Honolulu Harbor Oahu

Kalaeloa Barbers Point Harbor Oahu

Kewalo Basin Oahu

Kahului Harbor Maui

Kaunakakai Harbor Molokai

Kaumalapau Harbor Lanai

Hilo Harbor Hawaii

Kawaihae Harbor Hawaii

Nawiliwili Harbor Kauai

Port Allen Harbor Kauai

DOT AIRPORTS

Hilo International Airport

Honolulu International Airport

Kahului Airport

Kona International Airport

Lānai Airport

Molokai Airport