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Committee advances SB 2041 to transfer some land-court functions to Bureau of Conveyances with working group
Summary
SB 2041 would move certain land court functions to the Bureau of Conveyances and establish a working group to guide implementation. Testimony urged safeguards for judicial authority, protections for Kuleana lands and careful stakeholder representation in the working group; committee agreed to proceed and adopted the measure to move forward for further work.
The joint Judiciary and Water, Land, Culture and the Arts committees advanced SB 2041, a measure to transfer some real-property functions from the Land Court to the Bureau of Conveyances and to create a working group to recommend implementation details.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources and Judiciary witnesses stood on written testimony. Several members of the public and committee members asked whether deregistration of registered land is legally permissible and what protections would remain for complex title disputes, boundary issues and fraud claims. One testifier warned the Bureau of Conveyances lacks the Land Court’s adjudicatory authority to resolve contested title questions and urged the working group to design safeguards.
Senators also raised concerns about Kuleana lands and multi‑owner family parcels, asking whether the transfer could inadvertently weaken protections for those properties. Committee members agreed the working group should include broad stakeholder representation, including large landowners and native‑land interests, to address practical issues such as cost and the deregistration process.
Chairs recommended moving SB 2041 forward for further discussion with amendments and the joint committee adopted the recommendation to advance the measure; the working group will be tasked with addressing the issues raised during testimony.
