§171-59  Disposition by negotiation. 
(a)  A lease of public land may be disposed of through negotiation upon a
finding by the board of land and natural resources that the public interest
demands it.  Where the public land is being sought under this section by a
sugar or pineapple company, and the company is the owner or operator of a mill
or cannery, then, for the purposes of this section, the economic unit shall be
that acreage of public land which when taken together with the lands already
owned or controlled or available to the company, when cultivated is found by
the board to be necessary for the company's optimum mill or cannery operation. 
In all other cases, public land to be sold under this section shall be an
economic unit as provided in section 171-33(3).



After a determination is made to negotiate the
disposition of a lease, the board shall:



(1)  Give public notice as in public auction, in
accordance with the procedure set forth in section 171-16(a), of its intention
to lease public land through negotiation setting forth the minimum conditions
thereunder, the use for which the public land will be leased.  Any person
interested in securing the lease shall file an application with the board not
later than forty-five days after the first publication of the notice;



(2)  Establish reasonable criteria for the selection
of the lessee; provided that where the intended use of the land is agriculture,
the department of agriculture shall establish the criteria;



(3)  Determine the applicants who meet the criteria
for selection set by the board or the department of agriculture, as the case
may be, and notify all applicants of its determination.  Any applicant may
examine the basis of the determination, which shall be in writing, to ascertain
whether or not the conditions and criteria established by the board or the
department of agriculture were followed; provided that if any applicant does
not notify the board of the applicant's objections, and the grounds therefor,
in writing, within twenty days of the receipt of the notice, the applicant
shall be barred from proceeding to seek legal remedy for any alleged failure of
the board to follow the conditions and criteria.



If only one applicant meets the criteria for
selection of the lessee, the board may, after notice as provided in (3), above,
dispose of the lease by negotiation.



If two or more applicants meet the criteria for
the selection of the lessee, the board shall select the lessee who submits the
highest offer contained in a sealed bid deposited with the board.



(b)  Disposition of public lands for airline,
aircraft, airport-related, agricultural processing, cattle feed production,
aquaculture, marine, maritime, and maritime-related operations may be
negotiated without regard to the limitations set forth in subsection (a) and
section 171-16(c); provided that:



(1)  The disposition encourages competition within the
aeronautical, airport-related, agricultural, aquaculture, maritime, and
maritime-related operations;



(2)  The disposition shall not exceed a maximum term
of thirty-five years, except in the case of maritime and maritime-related
operations, which may provide for a maximum term of seventy years; and



(3)  The method of disposition of public lands for
cattle feed production as set forth in this subsection shall not apply after
December 31, 1988.



For the purposes of this subsection:



"Agricultural processing" means the
processing of agricultural products, including dairying, grown, raised, or
produced in Hawaii.



"Airport-related" means a purpose or
activity that requires air transportation to achieve that purpose or activity.



"Maritime-related" means a purpose or
activity that requires and is directly related to the loading, off-loading,
storage, or distribution of goods and services of the maritime industry. [L
1962, c 32, pt of §2; Supp, §103A-56; am L 1967, c 189, §6; HRS §171-59; am L
1970, c 101, §2; am L 1980, c 48, §1; am L 1984, c 278, §1; gen ch 1985; am L
1992, c 283, §2; am L 2001, c 77, §2; am L 2003, c 127, §2; am L 2008, c 200,
§2]