Struggle to sell Hawaiian recognition bill begins

By Derrick DePledge
Advertiser Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — A Native Hawaiian federal recognition bill would give Hawaiians the same right to self-government as American Indians and Native Alaskans, but would not create new race-based preferences, Hawai'i lawmakers said yesterday.

The Hawai'i congressional delegation introduced the legislation for the third time since 2000, and began the difficult political groundwork to overcome skeptical Republicans in Congress and the Bush administration.

"Extending the federal policy of self-determination and self-governance to Native Hawaiians is indispensable to further the process of reconciliation between Native Hawaiians and the United States,'" said Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i.

The bill, identical to a version that stalled last session, would recognize Native Hawaiians as an indigenous people with an inherent right to form a government that could have government-to-government relations with the United States. The bill also would establish a Native Hawaiian office in the Department of Interior and an interagency coordinating group to follow Hawaiian issues and programs in the federal government.

But while the bill is the same as last session, so is the opposition from several conservative Republicans whose hands may be strengthened now that the GOP controls the Senate and has a larger majority in the House.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who opposed the bill in the Senate last session, and other Republicans still have objections.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs could not prevent non-Hawaiians from participating in trustee elections, a decision that has called into question the constitutionality of other Hawaiian programs.

OHA and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands are being sued in federal court by an ethnically diverse group of plaintiffs who claim that Hawaiian programs discriminate against other state residents.

The legal challenges have been cited by supporters of the bill as one of the main reasons Congress should act quickly to give Hawaiians some federal protection. Many Hawaiians deeply resent charges that Hawaiian programs are discriminatory, especially from people on the Mainland that Hawaiians see as complicit in the erosion of Hawaiian land and culture.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, said the bill would create a federal process to recognize a Hawaiian government that would have a voice on land claims, education, housing, healthcare, economic development and culture.

"I don't think race was ever an issue when the land question wasn't real and the money question wasn't real," said Abercrombie, who challenged the Bush administration to take a position on the bill. "No one paid any attention when they didn't think that there was something like land and money at stake."

Several Republican lawmakers question whether sovereign Hawaiians would have to abide by the same state and local zoning, health, environmental and other regulations as their neighbors.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton raised similar questions in September and urged Native Hawaiians to define what a sovereign government would look like and how it would function, a signal that the administration wants more information before taking a stance.

Yesterday, Hawai'i Democrats and congressional aides said they hoped Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican who supports federal recognition, can make progress with the administration and congressional Republicans when she visits Washington this month.

Lingle said yesterday she was preparing to testify in favor of federal recognition Feb. 25 before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee as part of a six-day schedule of meetings in Washington.

Advertiser staff writer Vicki Viotti contributed to this report.