Hawaii Gov. David Ige said Tuesday that the state has agreed to pay $328 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by 2,700 Native Hawaiians who languished on a waitlist to receive homestead leases and suffered other harms from the mismanagement of the Hawaiian homes program.
Ige said the Legislature must approve the funds for the settlement and then a Circuit Court judge must sign off on its terms for it to be final.
The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 was meant to provide economic self-sufficiency to Hawaiians by supplying them land. Those with at least 50% Hawaiian blood quantum can apply for a 99-year lease for $1 a year.
