SCR 128 Hawaii Senate · 2025 Regular Session

REQUESTING THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO PRODUCE AND PROVIDE A LIST OF STATE LANDS CURRENTLY LEASED TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OR ANY FEDERAL AGENCY.

This Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR 128) requests the Hawaii Attorney General to compile and provide a list of all state lands currently leased to the U.S. government or federal agencies. It also asks the Attorney General to assess whether current leases - particularly those at nominal rates like $1 per acre - violate state constitutional or legal requirements for land stewardship. The resolution does not change lease terms but seeks transparency and a legal review of federal land leasing practices. It is a procedural request focused on gathering information, not implementing new policy.

Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2025

Senate Passage

Apr 2025

House Passage

Apr 2025

Governor

Introduced Mar 7, 2025 Last action Apr 17, 2025

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What changed between versions

SCR128 → SCR128_SD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was reformatted from a document with embedded metadata to a clean text version, while the core legislative content was substantially modified. The most significant policy change is the addition of a new resolution clause requiring the Attorney General to analyze legal barriers to federal land leases, particularly questioning whether nominal lease fees violate state constitutional requirements. This expands the bill's scope from simply requesting a list of leased lands to actively evaluating the legality of current leasing arrangements.

Scope change

The bill now includes a new substantive requirement for the Attorney General to evaluate constitutional and legal impediments to federal land leasing, moving beyond simple information gathering to legal analysis.

REQUIREMENT

New resolution clause requiring Attorney General to determine if state constitutional or legal provisions prohibit nominal fee leases to federal government

Removed clause requesting Attorney General to recommend whether lease renewals serve public interest

TECHNICAL

Converted document from metadata-heavy format to clean legislative text format

Corrected typo in original text where 'TXmerica' was changed to 'America'

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 17, 2025

Upper · Passed

Resolution adopted in final form.

upper

Apr 17, 2025

Introduced

Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 750).

upper

Apr 16, 2025

Lower · Passed

Adopted with Representative(s) Reyes Oda voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Alcos, Garcia, Matsumoto, Muraoka, Pierick, Shimizu voting no (6) and Representative(s) Cochran, Todd excused (2).

lower

Apr 16, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2124), recommending adoption.

lower

Apr 15, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 8 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Belatti, Kahaloa, Perruso, Takayama, Todd; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Shimizu; Noes: none; and 3 Excused: Representative(s) Cochran, Hashem, Garcia.

lower

Apr 4, 2025

Committee

Referred to JHA, referral sheet 28

lower

Apr 3, 2025

Introduced

Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 508) in amended form (SD 1).

lower

Apr 3, 2025

Upper · Passed

Report and Resolution Adopted, as amended (SD 1). Transmitted to House.

upper

Apr 2, 2025

Upper · Passed

Reported from JDC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1560) with recommendation of adoption, as amended (SD 1).

upper

Mar 20, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in JDC were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Rhoads, Chang, San Buenaventura, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Gabbard.

upper

Mar 14, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on JDC has scheduled a public hearing on 03-20-25 10:00AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 12, 2025

Committee

Referred to JDC.

upper

Mar 7, 2025

Introduced

Offered.

upper

3 primary · 2 co-sponsors