Ask NHLC: Personal Representatives
My father passed away and my brother has been designated as personal representative for his estate. Does that mean he will get our family ʻāina? I had the power of attorney for our dad before he died. Am I supposed to be the personal representative? By Liʻulā Christensen, NHLC Senior Staff Attorney When a loved one passes away and the ʻohana is determining how to settle their loved one’s estate, often someone needs the legal authority to inventory, maintain, and distribute that person’s property and assets, called their estate, to those legally entitled to it, including heirs and creditors. For ...
Hawaiʻi Supreme Court Oral Argument on Mauna Kea
Today is the first day of Native American Heritage Month, and NHLC was at the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court arguing that the government’s constitutional duty to protect Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices applies in the promulgation of administrative rules, an issue that’s been raised in one of our cases related to Mauna Kea. In Hawaiʻi the State "shall" protect Hawaiian traditional and customary practices. NHLC stands with the lāhui and cultural practitioners to defend this fundamental right. Watch the Supreme Court Oral Argument: https://youtu.be/K50LnT2kwFk Read the Star Advertiser (11/2/22) article here: Hawaiʻi’s high court hears arguments tied to Mauna Kea ...
Public Testimony of NHLC in Opposition of DHHL General Lease Extension for Lease No. 202 to Prince Kūhiō Plaza
Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation urges the Hawaiian Homes Commission to deny Brookfield Asset Management’s request for a long term extension of the Prince Kūhiō Plaza general lease in Hilo. The proposal being considered would reserve close to 50 acres of valuable trust lands to Brookfield for a total of 105 years, without the opportunity to consider alternative land uses in the interim nor engage in competitive lease renewal processes at commercially reasonable periods of time. Allowing this would conflict with state and federal law as well as the Commission’s duty to manage trust lands for the exclusive benefit of its ...
NHLC Requests Additional NSF Scoping Hearings
After observing that many individuals and communities were unable to provide comment during the NSF’s limited scoping hearings regarding its environmental study on whether to fund the TMT project, NHLC has formally requested additional hearings should NSF continue to consider funding TMT over community objections. Read more here: Mauna Kea FAQ
FAQs Regarding National Science Foundation’s TMT Consultation Process
Read more here: Mauna Kea FAQ
NHLC Equal Justice Works Fellow – Henderson Huihui
Meet Henderson Huihui, a 2020 Equal Justice Works (EJW) Fellow hosted by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation. His EJW project provides comprehensive outreach and advocacy to assist the over 60,000 eligible Native Hawaiians in applying for and keeping homestead housing. Read Henderson's EJW blog post titled, "Advocating for My Fellow Hawaiian Homesteaders" on the EJW website: https://www.equaljusticeworks.org/news/advocating-for-my-fellow-hawaiian-homesteaders/
NHLC Mourns the Passing of Aunty Colette Machado
The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation mourns the passing of Aunty Colette Machado. For more than 50 years, Aunty Colette embodied aloha ʻāina. She was a visionary leader for pono stewardship of Hawaiʻi lands and waters to achieve ʻāina momona and a thriving lāhui. Aunty Colette was a masterful advocate and leader, employing complex strategies to effect change and achieve justice, including more than one legal battle. Aunty Colette’s legacy includes more than one generation of advocates inspired by her to aloha ʻāina, including all of us at NHLC. We pray for comfort for Uncle Myron and the Machado ʻohana, and ...
NHLC Newsletter
Stay updated with NHLC news through our quarterly newsletter! Read the newsletter here: NHLC Quarterly Newsletter
Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs Resolution 2021-71
The Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs commends Moses Haia III and Alan Murakami on their retirement and their steadfast work with the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation. Read the AHCC resolution here: Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs Resolution 2021-71
NHBA Webinar – Ola I Ka Wai: Current Water Issues in Hawaiʻi
Read the overview here: NHBA Webinar - Ola I Ka Wai
