Posted on: Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Akaka bill has chance of passing, panel says
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Native law experts pondering the "myth or reality" of federal recognition for Native Hawaiians told a TV audience last night that the idea is far closer to becoming reality, adding that it represents the way the U.S. can fulfill its promise to reconcile with the indigenous people here.
The hour-long "Akaka Bill: Myth or Reality?" aired on KITV last night, a live call-in program sponsored by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; it will be rebroadcast at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Fielding questions that arrived by phone and e-mail were Charles Wilkinson, an authority on Indian and land laws; Native Hawaiian law expert Melody MacKenzie; and OHA attorney and former state Supreme Court associate justice Robert Klein. Filmmaker Edgy Lee moderated.
The Akaka bill, Klein said, has been seven years in the making.
"It takes so long to get Congress to understand the yearning of a people," he said.
Many questions centered on the powers that Hawaiians would have if the bill finally passes. Panelists agreed that the bill defines Hawaiians broadly, as descendants of the indigenous people in the Islands at the time of the kingdom's overthrow 111 years ago, or as those descended from a beneficiary of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1921. It establishes a commission to compile a voter roll and an interim council to oversee the establishment of a Hawaiian government.
Once formed, the panelists said, government could decide issues such as when and whether to negotiate for land with the state and federal governments, who would be eligible to belong to the Hawaiian nation and whether gambling could be permitted. The bill would establish the Hawaiian nation as another level of government, Wilkinson said, although certain federal powers — such as civil rights laws — would remain in force as in all states.
McKenzie said the case for Hawai'i's international independence was thwarted in a 2000 challenge at the Hague by the refusal of the United States to take part. The limited sovereignty of federal recognition offers the best option to Hawaiians, she said.
Wilkinson said he has been convinced by congressional delegates and staff that the bill "has a significant chance."
"There's broad support for it and a good deal is bipartisan," he said.
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
