The success of the so-called Akaka bill depends, in no small measure, on the comfort level and goodwill of the people on Capitol Hill who will have to approve it and those here in the Islands, who will live with the realignment it produces.

The congressional delegation is on the precipice of losing support — both locally and in Washington — if they persist in a recent push to amend the bill. The legislation, which would give Native Hawaiians the federal recognition as a sovereign political entity that they deserve, now includes several major changes that never were discussed in hearings held earlier this year by House and Senate committees.
The amended version, offered by Hawaii’s Sen. Daniel Akaka, is the one that passed the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and awaits a hearing on the floor.
Akaka would be wise to withdraw the amendment. The House version, the better option, is essentially the same bill that was vetted in the previous congressional session, when it garnered bipartisan support.
And bipartisan support is going to be needed. Assuming that everyone in the Democratic caucus will back this bill is not a safe bet.
The principal bone of contention in the amendment concerns the powers that will vest in the Native Hawaiian government, once it’s recognized. One amendment would accord, up front, rights that are accorded to Native Americans and Native Alaskans.
There is wisdom in the original plan of the House bill, which would involve state and federal authorities in negotiating these rights.
Native Hawaiians have a history distinct from other American indigenous groups, one in which they have lived intertwined with the larger Island society for more than a century.
And that larger society should have a place at the table where the relationship of the native, state and federal governments can be discussed.
Trying to rush through ill-considered amendments in legislation as important as the Akaka bill is risky on its face. And the resulting bill would lose the backing and trust that supporters of Native Hawaiian federal recognition worked so hard to secure.
It would be far more prudent to enact a bill that creates a collaborative foundation for a new Native Hawaiian government.