WASHINGTON — Supported by a Hawai'i-born president friendly to their cause and a larger Democratic majority in Congress, Akaka bill proponents yesterday opened the latest round of a battle started in 2000.

The Akaka bill would create a process for Native Hawaiian self-government and is named after its chief sponsor, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i.

Supporters might have their best chance ever of passing the bill in this Congress because Democrats increased their majorities in both the House and Senate, and President Obama committed during his campaign to sign it.

As a senator, Obama, who graduated from Punahou School, voted in 2006 to bring the bill up for a debate and vote.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, a House sponsor, said the legislation was important not only to Native Hawaiians but to everyone in Hawai'i.

"It provides a process to address long-standing issues facing Hawai'i's indigenous peoples and the state of Hawai'i," he said. "In addressing these matters, we have begun a process of healing, a process of reconciliation not only between the United States and the native people of Hawai'i but within the state."

The bills introduced yesterday in the House and Senate are identical to a Native Hawaiian bill the House approved in 2000 only to see Republican opposition stall it in the Senate.

Akaka said it was necessary that Native Hawaiians be allowed to reorganize a government and enter into discussion with the federal and state governments.

"My bill would ensure there is a structured process by which Native Hawaiians and the people of Hawai'i can come together, resolve ... complicated issues and move forward together as a state," said Akaka, who is of Native Hawaiian ancestry.

However, the bill has a long way to go.

It must first get the approval of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, where Akaka and U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, are both members, before it can be brought to the floor there.

Once through the committee, the bill's supporters will have to compete with backers of other legislation to have it scheduled for debate and a vote by the full chamber.

That may pose a problem because Congress has a full agenda of issues, from completing an economic stimulus plan to dealing with the nation's budget for next year.

'LONG OVERDUE'

Inouye said the Native Hawaiian bill was a "good bill and long overdue."

"The Hawai'i congressional delegation will do its utmost to successfully pass this measure," he said.

The bill would create a process for reorganizing a Native Hawaiian government, including development of a roll of Native Hawaiians and election of an interim governing council. Once the government receives federal recognition, negotiations could take place on the disposition of Native Hawaiian land, natural resources and other assets.

The new bill discards changes made during the Bush administration to address some concerns the Justice Department raised. The changes included a prohibition against Native Hawaiians bringing land claims against the United States and a bar against a Native Hawaiian government authorizing gambling.

Republican opponents say the legislation would create a race-based government for Native Hawaiians, setting a precedent for racial division and ethnic separatism.

But supporters, including U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawai'i, said the bill was a matter of fairness.

"It is a matter of decency — of human and civil rights — for the Congress to provide for a process of self-determination for an indigenous, native people," Hirono said.

Although the bill has passed the House twice — in 2000 and 2007 — Senate Republicans have used procedural roadblocks to stop action on it.

The closest the bill's supporters came to getting Senate action was in 2006, when they failed to garner the 60 votes needed to break a Republican filibuster that kept the bill from coming to the floor for a debate and vote.

Jesse Broder Van Dyke, spokesman for Akaka, said no time line has been established for getting the bill to the floor this time around.

"The Senate is working on a number of matters important to the country dealing with the economic crisis," he said. "But we anticipate it coming to the floor sometime this Congress."

MIXED LOCAL REACTION

Local reaction to the news was predictable.

OHA spokeswoman Crystal Kua, in a prepared statement, said the bill is "moving forward with a Congress that is friendlier to indigenous issues, an administration which has a greater understanding of Native Hawaiian issues and a president who has expressed support for the bill."

State Senate President Colleen Hanabusa also said she was pleased. "I think it's got the best chance of becoming law and I'm very hopeful that our congressional delegation will ensure its passage," Hanabusa said. "This will be the major step to reconciliation with Native Hawaiian people, our host culture, and it's long overdue."

Jamie Story, president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, said her organization continues to have a number of concerns about the measure.

"Chiefly that it is so vaguely written that I don't know how many people in Congress know what it's saying," Story said. "If in fact this is just about the recognition of Hawaiians, then outline that specifically — this is what the bill can do and does not do. When you don't do that, that leaves everybody afraid of what the bill can do, and what the consequences can be."