New call for Akaka bill hearing
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawaiian sovereignty activists, declaring the current federal recognition bill a "time bomb," are calling on Congress to give the measure another hearing in Hawai'i before passing amendments that some believe will shortchange Native Hawaiians in their claims.
The bill's most troublesome feature, they said, is a recent amendment that sets a 20-year deadline for a Native Hawaiian government to organize and negotiate with the state and federal governments.
Those negotiations would clarify its powers and settle existing claims on lands and assets now controlled by the state and federal governments.
The congressional measure, known as the Akaka bill, still awaits a final vote on the Senate floor and has not "crossed over" to the House, spokesmen for U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka and U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie said.
About a month ago, Akaka's office announced plans to have a similar bill introduced in the House before the Senate acts, to improve chances of the measure passing this session.
Mililani Trask, a longtime sovereignty advocate and outspoken critic of the bill in the past, was at the Capitol earlier this week. In a telephone interview from New York, she said she has a copy of a twin bill poised for introduction in the House.
It's this maneuvering that concerns people such as Vicky Holt Takamine, president of the '?lio'ulaokalani Coalition. The Hawaiian community has not had a chance since 2000 to discuss the bill in grass-roots meetings, Takamine said.
"We strongly support the process of self-determination, and we need the opportunity to engage in that process," she said. "It's a time bomb, and it's already ticking."
Officials for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, as well as OHA legal consultant Jon Van Dyke, have said that 20 years would be far longer than the six years accorded to other Native American groups to reach a settlement.
However, attorney Le'a Kanehe of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., said the restoration of sovereignty to Hawaiians, once citizens of an internationally recognized nation, is more complex than settlements for tribal groups and is not really comparable.
Van Dyke acknowledged the complexities, but sees the amended bill as basically "a good thing" — laying out a clear "right to sue" for Native Hawaiians that they do not now possess.
Other claims that can be made in international courts of appeals are not precluded by the amended bill, he added.
"It's a limited grant of jurisdiction, but it's something," Van Dyke said. "The Native Hawaiian people are the only native group that hasn't had a claims commission or settlement package enacted for them. Hawaiians are still on the outside looking in.
"It's a start."
Reach Vicki Viotti at 525-8053 or vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com.
