Hawaii mulls bill to help Hawaiians keep ancestral land

HONOLULU – A Hawaii Senate committee is scheduled to hear a bill that would force landowners into mediation before they are allowed to file lawsuits to acquire small parcels awarded to Hawaiian commoners during mid-19th century land reforms.

The bill was introduced after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in late 2016 filed lawsuits to identify owners of 14 parcels interspersed within a 700-acre oceanfront estate he owns on Kauai. His lawsuits aimed to help him find the parcel owners and buy them out.

Critics say these so-called quiet title lawsuits are dispossessing individual Native Hawaiians of the little land still in their control.

Zuckerberg withdrew as a plaintiff in the lawsuits after a public uproar.

The state House passed the legislation last year. Senators haven’t considered it until now.