[§516-83]  Legislative findings and
declaration of necessity; purpose.  (a)  The legislature finds that:



(1)  There is a concentration of land ownership in the
State in the hands of a few landowners who have refused to sell the fee simple
titles to their lands and who have instead engaged in the practice of leasing
their lands under long-term leases;



(2)  The refusal of such landowners to sell the fee
simple titles to their lands and the proliferation of such practice of leasing
rather than selling land has resulted in a serious shortage of fee simple
residential land and in an artificial inflation of residential land values in
the State;



(3)  Due to such shortage of fee simple residential
land and such artificial inflation of residential land values, the people of
the State have been deprived of a choice to own or take a lease of the land on
which their homes are situated and have been required instead to accept
long-term leases of such land which contain terms and conditions that are
financially disadvantageous, that restrict their freedom to fully enjoy such
land and that are weighted heavily in favor of the few landowners of such land;



(4)  The economy of the State and the public interest,
health, welfare, security, and happiness of the people of the State are
adversely affected by such shortage of fee simple residential land and
artificial inflation of residential land values and by such deprivation of the
people of the State of the choice to own or take a lease of the land on which
their homes are situated and the required acceptance of such long-term leases
of such lands;



(5)  The acquisition of residential land in fee
simple, absolute or otherwise, at fair and reasonable prices by people who are
lessees under long-term leases of such land and on which such land their homes
are situated and the ability of such people to fully enjoy such land through
ownership of such land in fee simple will alleviate these conditions and will
promote the economy of the State and public interest, health, welfare, security,
and happiness of the people of the State;



(6)  The cost of living in Hawaii is and has been
high.  In recent years inflation has drastically increased the cost of living
in the State.  The spiraling cost of living affects all people through erosion
of the purchasing power of whatever monetary resources they command.  For a
growing proportion of Hawaii's population, quite possibly a majority, the high
cost of living is denying them such basic necessities as sufficient nutritional
intake, safe and healthy housing accommodations, clothing, and adequate
preventive and curative health services.  A substantive and significant
contributing factor to the high and rising cost of living is the high cost of
land whether leasehold or fee.  Stabilizing the costs of land or, at least,
slowing the artificial inflation of land values would curb the rising cost of
living in Hawaii and, ultimately, contribute to the welfare of all people of
the State by improving their standard of living;



(7)  The Constitution of the State of Hawaii provides the State the power to provide assistance for persons unable to maintain a
standard of living compatible with decency and health.  The rising cost of land
tied to other cost of living increases is swelling the ranks of those persons
unable to maintain a decent and healthful standard of life.  If the
inflationary trend of land continues unchecked, the resultant inflationary
total cost of living could create such a large population of persons deprived
of decent and healthful standards of life that the consequent disruptions in
lawful social behavior could irreparably rend the social fabric which now
protectively covers the life and safety of all Hawaii's people.  The threat
posed by this possibility is sufficiently real and imminent to warrant state
action to redistribute land as a means of curbing continuing inflationary rises
in land values;



(8)  The right to own land is not an irrevocable grant
of a special privilege where it operates against the general welfare of the
many for the particular benefit of the few;



(9)  Land, in common with other natural resources, is
of finite quantity; a fact particularly obvious in Hawaii.  In recent decades
there has been growing general agreement that the wise conservation,
preservation, use and management of exhaustible natural resources such as land
are matters mandating an active governmental role.  There is an intimate
relationship between the monetary values accorded land in Hawaii and the
stability and strength of the State's economy as a whole.  Land values,
artificially inflated by the high concentration of ownership, skew the state
economy toward unnecessarily high levels.  The pervasive and substantial
contribution made to inflation by high land values creates a potential for
economic instability and disruption.  Economic inflation, instability and
disruptions have real and potential damaging consequences for all members of an
affected society.  Checking inflation, improving the stability of the economy,
and forestalling disadvantageous economic disruptions all are productive of
general benefit to all members of the Hawaiian society.  The sound and wise
conservation, preservation, use and management of land cannot be separated from
the subject of patterns of land ownership.  To accomplish the public purposes
of wisely conserving, preserving, using, and managing the land in the State
requires changing present patterns of land ownership.  Public laws,
expenditures, programs, and policies which contribute to the realization of
these public purposes serve a public use since they ultimately benefit the
entire community.  Changing present patterns of land ownership by allowing
lessees under long-term leases of residential land to purchase in fee simple,
absolute or otherwise, the land on which their homes are situated, through
governmental intervention including exercise of the power of eminent domain to
acquire fee simple title to such land and public financing of such purchase and
such condemnation and payment through the issuance of bonds, the expenditure of
general revenue funds, and the use of private funds which are at the disposal
of the State, will help satisfy the pressing public necessity for a secure,
strong and stable economy;



(10)  The State's acquisition of residential lands held
in fee simple, through the exercise of the power of eminent domain, for the
purposes of this chapter is for the public use and purpose of protecting the
public safety, health and welfare of all people in Hawaii;



(11)  Inflation lessens the quality of life of all
members of this afflicted society and is particularly invidious in its impact
on the ninety plus per cent of the population who are in the poverty, and low
through middle income groups.  The State has limited abilities to curb
inflation and, perhaps, the only useful means available is the State's power to
control land values.  There is a pressing public necessity for the State to do
whatever it can to curb inflation and to keep the cost of living at a level
where it is possible and manageable to provide all citizens a decent and
healthful standard of life.  The public use and purpose of providing all
citizens a decent and healthful standard of life will be directly and
substantially furthered by the State's acquisition of residential lands held in
fee simple, through the exercise of the power of eminent domain, for the
purposes of this chapter;



(12)  The use of the power of eminent domain to condemn
the fee simple title to residential land and the payment of just compensation
therefor for the purpose of making the fee simple title thereto and the use
thereof available for acquisition by people who are lessees under long-term
leases of such land and on which such land their homes are situated is for a
public use and purpose;



(13)  Legislation providing to people who are lessees
under long-term leases of residential land on which their homes are situated
the ability to fully enjoy such land through ownership of such land in fee
simple, absolute or otherwise, is for a public purpose.



(b)  It is therefore declared to be necessary
and it is the purpose of this chapter to alleviate the conditions found in
subsection (a) of this section by providing for the right of any person who is
a lessee under a long-term lease of residential land in the State to purchase
at a fair and reasonable price the fee simple title to such land, by providing
for the condemnation of the fee simple title to such land and the payment of
just compensation therefor by the State through the use of the power of eminent
domain and by providing for the public financing of such purchase and such
condemnation and payment through the issuance of bonds, the expenditure of
general revenue funds, and the use of private funds which are at the disposal
of the State. [L 1975, c 186, §2]



 



Law Journals and Reviews



 



  Extending Land Reform to Leasehold Condominiums in Hawai`i.  14 UH L. Rev. 681.



 



Case Notes



 



  Determination of whether taking is for public purpose is
limited to whether there is a denial of substantive due process.  Statute is
constitutional if:  (1) any possible rationale for the statute, expressed or
not, is within state police power; and (2) statute is not arbitrary or product
of legislative bad faith.  483 F. Supp. 63.



  Discussed:  79 H. 64, 898 P.2d 576.



  Mentioned:  471 F. Supp. 871; 74 H. 294, 845 P.2d 1186.