Effective July 1, 2015, Governor David Ige signed HB 207 (Act 169) into law mandating specific state board, commission, and council members to attend a training course on the state’s fiduciary duties and trust obligations to protect Hawaiʻi’s natural resources and Native Hawaiian traditional and customary practices.
Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law under the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law, in partnership with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), has held three such training courses since 2013. State and county decision makers who have taken the course have given it overwhelmingly positive reviews. The next Native Hawaiian law training course will be offered on Saturday, August 1, 2015, at the William S. Richardson School of Law.
State Representative Kaniela Ing, speaking at the governor’s signing of Act 169, stated, “This measure takes basic steps to ensure that the next generation of public servants will be more knowledgeable of the historical and cultural context of the place for which they are tasked to make decisions.”
Act 169 mandates that members of the Land Use Commission, Board of Land and Natural Resources, Commission on Water Resource Management, Environmental Council, Board of Directors of the Agribusiness Development Corporation, Board of Agriculture, Legacy Land Conservation Commission, Natural Area Reserves System Commission, Hawaiʻi Historic Places Review Board, and the Board of Health take the OHA sponsored training course. The act also allows other state and county decision makers and staff to take the Native Hawaiian Law training course.
For registration information, please contact Shae Kamakaʻala, Native Hawaiian Law Training coordinator via email.
