Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 5, 1 May 2010 — Support Senator Akaka [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Support Senator Akaka

The amended Native Hawaiian Reorganization Bill (Bill) proposed in December '09 in the U.S. Senate by Senators Akaka and Inouye has created quite a stir in the whole island community. In the larger general community the usual response ranged from "ho hum" to "are they still at that?" In the Hawaiian eommunity some people were completely upset because they had fought for years against being classified as an "Indian tribe," whieh the amendment impliedly does. When people eame to understand that, like all other indigenous govemments in the United States, the Native Hawaiian Governing Entity

(NHGE) fostered by the bill would enjoy full governmental authority from the outset of its existence, the anti-tribal opposition quieted down considerably; however, when Governor Lingle and Attorney General Bennett began challenging provisions of the bill regarding sovereign immunity, they stirred up a stormy following consisting primarily of people who oppose the essential concept of self-gover-

nanee forNative Hawaiians. The Governor has now written a letter to all of the U.S. Senate Republicans voicing her opposition to the bill. That action has created mueh apprehension that the Republiean Senators who had supported Senator Akaka's initiative would now back off, leaving the bill in jeopardy. The previous form of the bill, whieh was supported by the Governor, did not accord to the NHGE any true governmental authority. It required the NHGE,

onee formed, to negotiate with the Federal and State governments as to what powers and authorities they would agree to allow the NHGE to handle within their eommunities. The Governor liked this because she could say to the NHGE, "No you can't do that because I don't believe you are eapahle of handling such governmental functions," or "because I think they would be harmful to

the ambitions of the general eommunity." Under the amended bill, the NHGE would eome out of the "starting gate" with complete authority over any matters that a recognized govemment would have. Thereafter, it would negotiate with the State and the Federal government over whether those powers should be diminished, altered or eliminated. Historically, with all of the differences between the power of the United States, the states and the Indian tribes, the process for allocating governmental authority has created an acceptable halanee of power among them.

In a recent newspaper article, Senator Akaka stated that he has amended the bill to address most of the Governor's concems. The one area of continuing disagreement is the issue of whether the NHGE would, or should, be accorded sovereign immunity. Senator Akaka noted that: "[T]here were some issues whieh, despite our best efforts, we simply could not eome to

agreement on, primarily sovereign immunity. This is a right to whieh every native government and every state government, including Hawai'i, is entitled. Without this protection, the entity would most certainly face a barrage of lawsuits beginning on Day One, before they have even begun to set up an office. This would put Native Hawaiians on unequal footing with other native peoples, and would create legal problems by deviating from existing federal policies, leading to more litigation. To me, a big part of the value of this bill is that it will lead to negotiations and agreements, not lawsuits." I have faith in Senator Akaka's political judgment that he ean muster the 60 votes needed for Senate approval of the measure and support him completely. Other organizations, such as the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs and the Native Hawaiian Bar Association have expressed their support of Senator Akaka's actions in this matter. Thus far, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, mueh to my disappointment, has not expressed such support, encouraging instead continuing discussions and efforts at final agreement. Hopefully, this will change. ■

Walter M. Heen VicE Chair TrustEE, ū'ahu