WASHINGTON — The House yesterday approved a bill that would authorize a memorial to people diagnosed with leprosy in Hawai'i and exiled to a remote colony on Moloka'i's Kalaupapa Peninsula.

The House approved the bill, sponsored by Hawai'i Democratic Reps. Mazie Hirono and Neil Abercrombie, on a voice vote. A similar bill pending in the Senate must be approved before the memorial could be authorized.

From 1866 to 1969, about 8,000 people were taken from their families and isolated on the peninsula because of society's fear of the disease, now known as Hansen's disease, Hirono said.

"Food was scarce, and shelter and healthcare were minimal for the new arrivals," said Hirono, standing on the House floor with a large photo listing the names of the first dozen exiles — all Native Hawaiian. "The mortality rate for exiles in the first five years was 46 percent, due to the poor conditions."

About 6,700 of the 8,000 people who died at Kalaupapa were buried in unmarked graves.

The memorial, expected to list the names of all the disease's victims, would be located in the Kalaupapa National Historical Park.

A group of Hansen's disease patients, relatives and friends — the Ka 'Ohana O Kalaupapa — has sought the monument for years so others would know who they were and the ordeal they suffered, said Piolani Motta, a member of the group's monument committee.

"The patients, the people working at the place want something there to remind people that there were people who were sent off, ostracized by society, to live by themselves and fend for themselves," said Motta, whose grandmother developed the disease at age 14 in 1906 and was sent to Kalaupapa. "We need something there, even if it is a rock or a plaque ... to remind people that this was hallowed ground."

NO LONGER ASHAMED

Motta said government resistance to the monument seems to have eased as more and more people try to discover if they had relatives at the colony.

"A lot of them say their parents or grandparents were ashamed of the fact that they were connected with people who had leprosy," Motta said. "But that is a forgotten past now. They are coming in to say they want to look for ... their families or names."

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources national parks subcommittee, is sponsoring a similar bill.

Akaka said he was working to get the bill passed as soon as possible so that the remaining Kalaupapa patients and family members will live to see it.

"I hope this monument will provide closure and a sense of belonging to the many family members who have no knowledge of their ancestors' whereabouts," Akaka said. "The monument will allow the world to recognize and learn from the tragedy that took place on Kalaupapa."

Also yesterday, Gov. Linda Lingle announced the release of $510,000 in state money for the design and construction of various improvements to the settlement's 14-bed nursing facility. The facility is used for the 27 Hansen's disease patients who continue to live there.

Improvements will include a new and larger-capacity emergency generator, repair and relocation of automatic fire doors, and repairs to a shower room floor to ensure proper drainage, a news release said. The project is scheduled for completion in October 2009.

Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.