Posted on: Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Congress to hear Hawaiian recognition bill

By Yasmin Anwar
Advertiser Staff Writer

Supporters and opponents of a bill to help Native Hawaiians gain federal recognition that is inching its way through Congress will be paying close attention today.

The 2001 version of U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka's Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill is set to be heard today by the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which is chaired by the bill's co-sponsor, U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i.

A companion measure was approved in May by the House Resources Committee, and is now before the full House. A final vote on the bill is expected in the fall, but could take place sooner.

Some say the bill stands its best chance if it passes out of Inouye's committee with unanimous approval and goes directly to the Democrat-controlled Senate for a floor vote.

If the bill waits too long for a final vote, they fear its detractors will have time to organize opposition and mount a filibuster.

That's what happened last year, when the bill died in the waning days of the 106th Congress, blocked by the objections of such Republican senators as Don Nickles and James Inhofe, both of Oklahoma, and Slade Gorton of Washington.

It also drew sharp criticism from Hawaiian nationalists and foes of affirmative action, and continues to do so.

At 'Iolani Palace yesterday, two dozen foes of the Akaka bill gathered to voice their concerns that the bill is being pushed through without full input from the Hawaiian community.

Some worried that passage of the bill will forfeit Hawaiians' right to full independence, and sell out their claims to land and other entitlements.

"This bill is extinguishing our rights to the whole Hawaiian archipelago," said Hawaiian nationalist Richard Kinney.

But others said the bill is simply a means to provide Hawaiians with a framework to create a governing entity so they can engage in the same sort of government-to-government relationship granted to American Indian and Alaska native tribes.

They're more concerned that the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs or state Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations will attempt to become the Native Hawaiian government, and that Hawaiians will be denied a democratic means of electing their leaders.

Akaka, D-Hawai'i, introduced the bill last year in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that OHA cannot restrict its elections to those of Hawaiian ancestry under the 15th Amendment's ban on race-based voting restrictions.

He hoped it would protect Hawaiian programs from constitutional challenges. But the measure died in the 106th Congress.

It was reintroduced in January and later modified to address the concerns of those who worried it would open a back door to gambling in Hawai'i and drain the resources of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

This time around, the bill's sponsors hope the Democrats' one-vote majority control of the Senate will enhance its chances.

The measure provides a process for Native Hawaiians to form a governing entity subject to the approval of the U.S Department of Interior and the Hawai'i State Legislature.

"The Secretary shall certify that the state of Hawai'i supports the recognition of the Native Hawaiian governing entity by the United States as evidenced by a resolution or act of the Hawai'i State Legislature," the bill says.

It calls for an office within the Department of the Interior to focus on Hawaiian issues, and serve as a liaison between Hawaiians and the federal government.