This special meeting of the Policy Committee on Planning, Land Use, and Economic Development convened on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, at 9:01 a.m. in Hilo and Kona, chaired by Councilmember Ashley Karkowitz. The primary agenda item was Bill 66 (Draft 2), which would adopt the County of Hawaii General Plan 2045, and Communication 372.192, proposing a substitute draft (General Plan 2026) submitted by the Chair. After extensive discussion, public testimony, and an executive session, the committee postponed the matter to its April 7, 2026, meeting. The meeting adjourned at 11:27 a.m.
Aloha and good morning. Welcome to the special meeting of the policy committee on planning, land use, and economic development. Today is Tuesday, March 10th, 2026. I am calling this meeting to order at 9.01 a.m. Joining us for today's special committee meeting in Kona is Council Chair Holeka Inaba here in Hilo, Council members Heather Kimball, James Eustis, Jennifer Kagiwada. My name is Ashley Karkowitz, Chair and Presiding Officer. At this time, we will take statements from the public. Mr. RSLI. Thank you so much. Madam Chair. Sorry for the delay. Um just wanted to confirm that we've heard that we have no testifiers at our remote sites. We do have one testifier via Zoom, who I believe has just joined us. Uh Mr. Dwight Vicente. Dwight, if you could unmute your mic. I I see that you're calling in, so if you just hit star six, you'll unmute your mic and you'll have three minutes after you introduce yourself. Dwight, if you're there, if you could just hit star six on your phone, you'll unmute yourself and you can begin to provide your testimony. Can you hear me now? Yes, we can okay. Good morning, Maime. My name is Dwight Vicente, representing Hawaiian Kingdom. Uh the land, the land use commission, state land use commission, uh county planning commission has no jurisdiction based on the historical history of this kingdom. 1875 did they did a reciprocity proclamation that was done by three U.S. citizens in Washington, DC. You got Fish Allen and Carter. That was the place. Then you got the uh 1898 joint resolution, which seeded the Banana Republic ceded 1,750,000 acres of Crown and Government lands that it did not have lease contracts on them. There are over 2.2 million acres of Crown and Government lands that was under King Kalakaua 30 year lease from 1890 to 1920. So those were not included. So what the state is doing, the illegitimate state of Hawaii is doing, they did the uh land use commission in 1955 to assume jurisdiction over the lands. It was not ceded under the uh 1898 joint resolution. In fact, the uh admission act 1959 rely on the 1898 joint resolution to assume jurisdiction over the ceded land. So the limitations are the three documents, uh 1590 admission act, the uh 1898 joint resolution, it's congressional, and the 1875 reciprocity proclamation, which is not an amendment to the uh uh July 1787 Northwest Ordinance. It's limited by its uh jurisdiction to uh Ohio River Valley Indian Reserve. So there is no jurisdiction over the so-called agricultural lease lands. So the uh the state and county has no jurisdiction, so those lands should not be included as part of the uh planning for what to do with those lands. So I'll reserve the rights of this kingdom under the 1898 uh Queen's protest against U.S. Minister Stevens. That is yet to go to the US Supreme Court article, Article 3, Section 2, Clause 2. And the uh Hawaiian Kingdom still exists because the state of Hawaii is illegitimate. It's created under the Northwest Ordinance of July 1787, no amendments. So thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony. And with that, Chair, those are all the testifiers we have for your meeting this morning. Thank you, Mr. R.S. Lie. Um excuse me.