Ēwe Hānau o ka ʻĀina: A Policy Review Focused on Hawaiʻi’s Public Land Trust

J. Kawika Riley, Cade Akamu and Lorinda Riley ()
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J. Kawika Riley: Independent Researcher, Honolulu, HI 96816, USA
Cade Akamu: Office of Public Health Studies, Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Lorinda Riley: Office of Public Health Studies, Thompson School of Social Work and Public Health, University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA

Land, 2022, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: ʻĀina (land) is central to Native Hawaiian culture and ways of life. The illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and annexation to the US resulted in the loss of Hawaiian crown and government land, which was placed in trust for the benefit of the Hawaiian people. These lands, now managed by the State of Hawaiʻi, were reconstituted as the Public Land Trust (PLT) with one of the articulated uses being the betterment of Native Hawaiians. While the Hawaiʻi State Constitution restored Native control over a proportional share of revenue generated from PLT lands, the US Supreme Court removed Native self-determination over the trust by opening its selection of trustees to non-Native Hawaiians. Applying a critical policy lens, this paper explores the rise and end of Native Hawaiian control over their own PLT share. Using the policy surveillance methodology, this study explores the recent expansion of Native Hawaiian consultation law and whether this has restored some self-determination over the Native Hawaiian PLT share, with the study finding that it has not. Thus, while Hawaiʻi’s laws clearly articulate a desire for Hawaiians to control the use of their share of the PLT, Hawaiian control of these resources has eroded, suggesting a need to adopt policies that realign with the original purpose of the PLT.

Keywords: native Hawaiian; public land; land policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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