Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 2, 1 February 1994 — Sovereignty tops list of Hawaiian issues as Legislature opens [ARTICLE]

Sovereignty tops list of Hawaiian issues as Legislature opens

One of the hottest Hawaiian issues in the Legislature this year will be the recommendations of the Hawaiian Sovereignty Advisory Commission on a process for sovereignty. At the end of the month the commission plans to present its recommendations for holding a plebiscite of Hawaiian voters on whether to hold a Hawaiian eonstitutional convention to form a Hawaiian nation. The report is expected to include input from the Hawaiian community gathered from statewide meetings held last October and this past January. The commision is also expected to request funding for public education on sovereignty, and legislation to allow and fund a mailout ballot so Hawaiian youth 16 and 17-years of age, Hawaiian prison inmates, and Hawaiians living outside of Hawai'i ean participate in the plebiscite. Hawai'i residents over 18 are tentatively seen as voting in the polls via the present OHA voter registration process. Alternative futures for the eommission in the next year were presented to the community, including: - continuation of the current 20member body, with vacancies to be filled if members resign to run as delegates to the Hawaiian eon-

vention; or • retaining only the current apportionment committee, and reconstituting the rest of commission with members elected by island councils. While he sees the sovereignty issue and Hawaiian homelands as "pressing political issues," Rep. Peter Apo, vice-chair of the House Hawaiian Affairs committee, says the main issues affecting the most Hawaiians are "the bread and butter problems that face everyone — affordable housing, affordable health care, car insurance, cost of groceries, education for their kids, child abuse, neighborhood crime, spouse abuse, decent employment." Apo said he hopes in this session to "move the Hawaiian agenda to make a plebiscite on sovereignty possible, to allow the Hawaiian Sovereignty Advisory Commission to continue its work on a process to convene some type of democratically-convened body politic to shape a constitution." He believes there needs to be "a massive education effort on the sovereignty question," and that the process must also represent Hawaiians who remain eommitted to being both citizens of Hawai'i and the United States. According to Apo, these have every right to be represented on

the question of sovereignty and will need more information before deciding whether or not they will support a specific model of sovereignty. Sen. Eloise Tungpalan, vicechair of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Environmental Protection and Hawaiian Programs, plans to introduce a measure for a threeyear demonstration program to provide ho'oponopono counseling services to individuals and families referred through the Family Court of the First Circuit. Mediators would be trained to settle family disputes in cases involving domestic violence, disputes over child ciistody, substance abuse and other situations. Tungpalan also said she will seek to promote Hawaiian culture and arts via creation of a video display system at Honolulu International Airport and other locations, whieh will feature current cultural activities statewide. Such a video cultural display could also be sent to major travel centers of the world, she added. Tungpalan sees education as a priority, and will be looking at ways to increase revenues to the University of Hawai'i system and to support the West Oahu College whieh she believes is increasing educational opportunities for Hawaiians in Leeward O'ahu.