Ask NHLC

18 items

Hānai ma ke Kānāwai, Hānai and the law

Na Devin Kamealoha Forrest, NHLC Staff Attorney and Title & Research Specialist E like hoʻi me kā A. Keohokalole i wehewehe ai ma ka hihia ʻo In re Nakuapā (1872) penei; “He wā waiwai ʻole o nā ʻliʻi, a me nā makaʻāinana, ka wā kahiko. ʻO ke Aliʻi Mōʻī ʻAimoku wale nō, nona wale nō nā ʻāina a pau loa, a me nā waiwai lewa a pau, he mālama wale nō kā nā ʻliʻi ʻē aʻe ma lalo iho ona, a me kekahi poʻe makaʻāinana kākaʻikahi i lawe ʻaikāne ʻia e ka Mōʻī a me nā ʻliʻi ʻai ʻāina, a ...

February 4, 2025|Categories: Ask NHLC, Traditional Practices|Tags: |

What is the kuleana of the Island Burial Councils to protect iwi kūpuna?

By Terina Fa‘agau, NHLC Staff Attorney To promote the “sensitive treatment of Hawaiian burial sites through cooperative and shared decision making with representatives of the Hawaiian community,” the Hawaiʻi State Legislature established the Island Burial Councils, under the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), to administer Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes (HRS) § 6E. There are five Island Burial Councils: Hawaiʻi Island; Maui/Lānaʻi; Molokaʻi; Oʻahu; and Kauaʻi/Niʻihau. The governor appoints council members selected from lists recommended by the State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). The Molokaʻi Council has five members, while all the others have ...

December 18, 2024|Categories: Ask NHLC, Burial Protection|Tags: |

What is a DHHL RWOTP lease? Is that a homestead lease?

By Henderson Huihui, NHLC Staff Attorney In 2021, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) began offering Hawaiʻi Island waitlisters and those with an Undivided Interest homestead lease a rent-with-option-to-purchase rental (“RWOTP”) agreement. After 15 years of renting a unit, the waitlister can purchase the unit and receive a 99-year homestead lease. DHHL has plans to expand RWOTP offerings to other areas and islands. For some waitlisters, the RWOTP program may be their best pathway to a homestead award, as they may have had to turn down previous homestead lease offers for a turnkey house because they could not obtain ...

November 15, 2024|Categories: Ask NHLC, Hawaiian Home Lands|Tags: |

Is Ka Paʻakai the only legal analysis that considers impacts to Native Hawaiian traditional and customary rights?

By Terina Faʻagau, NHLC Staff Attorney In June we wrote about the Ka Paʻakai decision from the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court that resulted in criteria for an analysis that state agencies must complete before making a decision that may impact the exercise of Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices. However, Ka Paʻakai is not the only legal framework or analysis that requires the consideration of a proposed action’s impacts to Native Hawaiian traditional and customary rights. Proposals that trigger Hawaiʻi’s environmental review process require the assessment of cultural impacts in determining whether an action will have a significant effect on the ...

October 8, 2024|Categories: Ask NHLC, Traditional Practices|Tags: |

What is the midwives case about that protects cultural practitioners?

By Kirsha K.M. Durante, NHLC Litigation Director Earlier this year, NHLC, together with a national nonprofit called the Center for Reproductive Rights and a law firm called Perkins Coie, filed a lawsuit challenging the Midwife Licensure Act under Hawaiʻi Revised Statues (“HRS”) §457J. NHLC participated to protect Hawaiian birthing practices, including pale keiki, hoʻohānau, and hānau that were being impacted by serious restrictions in the law preventing practitioners from practicing and families from receiving traditional care. As part of the case, our team filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction which requested, in part, that the court block the State of ...

September 10, 2024|Categories: Ask NHLC, Birthing, Traditional Practices|Tags: |

What are the permit requirements for restoring and operating a loko iʻa?

By Sharla Manley, NHLC Of Counsel Attorney Loko iʻa (fishponds) are integral to watershed management, environmental remediation, and food sovereignty. Restoring them is a critically important matter across the pae ʻāina. For decades, loko iʻa advocates have fought for reasonable permitting processes for restoration. Sadly, these processes have historically been difficult, resource intensive, and lengthy with requirements at the county, state, and federal level. Meaningful reforms in the last 20 years foster hope, but the permit process continues to be complicated depending on numerous factors that differ from site to site. In 1995, the state enacted Act 177 that created ...

August 21, 2024|Categories: Access Rights, Ask NHLC, Mālama ʻĀina, Traditional Practices|Tags: |

How does the FestPAC advance justice across Moananuiākea?

By Angela Correa-Pei, Of Counsel Attorney, NHLC As Hawaiʻi proudly hosted the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC) in June, it was empowering to witness the celebration of Native Hawaiian culture and those of the 27 other participating nations – an exceptional collective of Indigenous peoples. A primary objective of the festival is “to promote cultural exchange and understanding among the participating nations.” Through this exchange, we not only gain a deeper appreciation for one another’s cultural practices and values, we are reminded of the challenges Pacific Island nations are facing from political struggles to the continued taking ...

July 8, 2024|Categories: Ask NHLC|Tags: |

What is a Ka Paʻakai analysis?

By Ashley K. Obrey, Senior Staff Attorney The “Ka Paʻakai” analysis is a legal framework that government agencies must follow when considering proposals that may impact the exercise of Native Hawaiian traditional and customary rights. Developed by the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court in Ka Paʻakai O Ka ʻĀina v. Land Use Comm’n, the three-part inquiry operationalizes constitutional protections for Native Hawaiian rights by requiring that state and county agencies conduct detailed investigations and make specific findings as to: The identity and scope of valued cultural historical, or natural resources in the…area, including the extent to which traditional customary native Hawaiian rights are ...

June 10, 2024|Categories: Access Rights, Ask NHLC, Traditional Practices|Tags: |

I lost my home in the August wildfires, and I haven’t been able to pay the mortgage since then. Could I lose my property to foreclosure?

By Sharla Manley, Of Counsel Attorney, Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (NHLC) started as an anti-eviction law firm aimed at addressing the crisis of Native Hawaiians increasingly being evicted from rural areas to make way for residential and industrial developments. Originally named the “Hawaiian Coalition of Native Claims,” the organization fought against a then-new wave of dispossession from the land to make way for a boom in urban development. The disaster resulting from the August 2023 wildfires threatens to dispossess Native Hawaiians again in a place that was once the capital of the Hawaiian nation. This spring ...

May 15, 2024|Categories: Ask NHLC, Disaster Recovery|Tags: |

What is Huamakahikina?

Every spring, the week-long Merrie Monarch Festival celebrates King David Kalākaua and his legacy of reinstating the public practice of hula after it had been outlawed in the 1830s. In honor of this year’s 61st Merrie Monarch Festival, we are using this month’s column to provide general information about the Huamakahikina Declaration on the Integrity, Stewardship, & Protection of Hula. What is Huamakahikina? Huamakahikina is a coalition of Kumu Hula from Hawaiʻi, the continental United States, and various countries around the world and recognizes that Kumu Hula have a unique kuleana to the integrity, stewardship, and protection of hula. All ...

April 11, 2024|Categories: Ask NHLC, Traditional Practices|Tags: , |
Go to Top