- Z99 -

Cover Summary A Contested Contested Case The State reaffirms and shall protect all rights customarily and traditionally exercised for subsistence cultural and religious purposes and possessed by ahupuaa tenants who are descendants of native Hawaiians who inhabited the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778 subject to the right of the State to regulate such rights. Article XII Section 7 of the Hawaii Constitution leaves no doubt as to the rights of native Hawaiians. But exercising those rights does not always come easily. A recent opinion of the Intermediate Court of Appeals spells out just how far the Board of Land and Natural Resources has fallen short of the mark in carrying out its constitutional obligations to native Hawaiians.