Kauai County Council backs Native Hawaiian trust protections in new resolution
Kauai leaders warn Ryan v. Watson could weaken Native Hawaiian homestead protections, as the county backs a 200,000-acre trust tied to more than 30,000 waitlisted applicants.
Kauai County’s latest resolution puts the island squarely in the middle of a legal fight that could reshape Native Hawaiian homestead policy far beyond Līhue. If Ryan v. Watson succeeds, county leaders say the challenge could erode the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and the federal trust obligations that have guided Native Hawaiian land policy for a century.
The council approved Resolution No. 2026-18, Draft 1, on Wednesday, June 17, after Council Chair Mel Rapozo and Council Vice Chair KipuKai Kualii introduced it in response to the federal lawsuit filed in Hawaii. The measure urges Congress, the President, and the State of Hawaii to preserve, protect, and fulfill the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and other laws supporting Native Hawaiians, while rejecting what the county describes as historical and cultural inaccuracies in the case.
The lawsuit was filed June 1 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii by Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of Eric Ryan, an Oahu resident who was denied access to apply online for a Hawaiian Home Lands lease because he did not meet the 50 percent Native Hawaiian blood quantum requirement. The complaint argues that the rule violates the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and seeks to end ancestry-based exclusion from future waitlists.
Gov. Josh Green said, “We will fight this lawsuit with everything we have,” while Attorney General Anne Lopez said the suit seeks to dismantle a program that has provided opportunities, stability and hope to generations of Native Hawaiian beneficiaries. Their response reflects how high the stakes have become: public reporting says the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands waitlist for new leases exceeds 30,000 applicants, and some families have waited more than 40 years for a lease.
The county’s defense of the HHCA rests on its history. The law was signed by President Warren G. Harding on July 9, 1921, after Congress enacted it in 1921, and it set aside about 200,000 acres for Native Hawaiians through 99-year homestead leases. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands says applicants must have at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood to qualify, while the U.S. Department of the Interior describes the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust as roughly 200,000 acres of available lands placed in trust for homesteading by Native Hawaiians.
Rapozo said the lawsuit threatens “the HHCA’s integrity and a century-old commitment to address historical injustices through land held in trust for Native Hawaiians.” Kualii said, “Native Hawaiian is not just a race; the term encompasses so much more than that.” With Kauai now on record, the county has signaled where it stands as the courts weigh whether the homestead program is a lawful Indigenous trust responsibility or an unconstitutional racial classification.
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