Troubled state bureau deserves revamp

THE ISSUE The state DLNR has outlined a plan for streamlining the process of keeping land document records.

FOLLOWING a controversy leading to the state Senate's rejection of Peter Young's reappointment as head of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, successor Laura Thielen has taken steps to modernize the department's method of keeping land records. Thielen said upon taking office in July that she would use technology to get the most "bang for the buck" from the bureau in charge of performing that work, and her changes appear to be a way to reach that goal.

A legislative committee and the attorney general investigated allegations last spring that employees at the Bureau of Conveyances received gifts, trips to Las Vegas and hotel upgrades from companies using the bureau's services. The probes focused on security of documents, computer access and overall operations.

Upon becoming head of DLNR, Thielen assembled a group of bureau staff and representatives of title companies, banks, lawyers, labor and real estate to streamline the process and improve security. The Legislature should act promptly to enact laws enabling the changes without digging up the bureau's past problems.

Hawaii is the only state with a single statewide office for recording land documents. The plans to improve the system include having the bureau's customers transmit executed deeds, mortgages and other documents directly to the bureau through its Web site. The documents are to be archived online, not on paper.

The bureau also will stop using full Social Security numbers, confining records to only the last four numbers for identification in records, complying with an important 2006 law that has been ignored by numerous other agencies.