"Congressional passage of the Hawaiian sovereignty bill has become possible with yesterday's dropping of controversial alterations of the legislation that were made in December. Those changes had cost the support of Gov. Linda Lingle and possibly crucial bipartisan support of any kind. Sen. Daniel Akaka and the rest of Hawaii's congressional delegation have prudently agreed to eliminate the objectionable changes, and Lingle is back on board favoring enactment.

"Now is the time to act," Sen. Daniel Inouye wrote in a Fourth of July column in Sunday's Star-Advertiser, "even if it may require compromise to, at long last, adopt a measure that begins the process of self-determination" of native Hawaiians.

The altered bill, approved by the House in February, would have recognized the Hawaiian governing council as "an Indian tribe." Much of what that entailed was "unsuited for the state of Hawaii" and "will certainly engender new disputes over the status of much of the land in Hawaii," objected Hawaii Attorney General Mark Bennett.

For example, Indian laws rather than state or federal statutes typically govern Indian reservations. Hawaii has no similar land bases. Lingle, expressing opposition to the altered bill to all Senate Republicans, had asserted that the bill would set the native Hawaiian governing entity and the state "on a jurisdictional collision course" that would result in costly litigation and "remedial legislation" by Congress."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Do-or-die time for Akaka Bill (The Honolulu Star-Advertiser 7/8)

Native Hawaiian Bill:
H.R.862 | S.381

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