Public Land Trust working group backs independent audit of PLTIS, seeks budget request

The Public Land Trust Working Group on Oct. 14, 2024 agreed to seek funding for an independent third-party review of the state's Public Land Trust Information System (PLTIS) and for an audit of agencies' revenue reporting, recommending both legislative appropriation and an executive-branch budget request to start the work.

The recommendation grew out of months of disagreement between Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees and state representatives over whether the interim report to the Legislature should include OHA's detailed claims about historic undercounting of ceded and government lands and omitted revenues. Sherry Broder, Trustee, said OHA will submit its own addendum if the joint report omits those positions.

The working group's interim-report discussion focused on two items the members said they can agree on now: (1) an independent audit or inventory of PLTIS to establish a single, verifiable accounting of ceded and government lands, and (2) an audit of how state agencies report income, proceeds and revenues from those lands. The group directed staff and the state-side members to seek a budget appropriation to pay for the work…