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THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING THAT THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS RECOGNIZE AN
    OFFICIAL POLITICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES
    GOVERNMENT AND THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE.



 1        WHEREAS, during the 1980s and early 1990s, there were many
 2   impediments, at the federal level, to a consideration and
 3   resolution of issues related to ceded lands and to Hawaiian
 4   political status; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, in 1983, the federal Native Hawaiian Study
 7   Commission Majority Report concluded that the federal
 8   government was not liable for the loss of sovereignty or lands
 9   arising from the overthrow, and in 1989, the Bush
10   administration disavowed the position of the Carter
11   administration that there was a trust relationship between the
12   Hawaiian people and the federal government; and
13   
14        WHEREAS, in early 1993, the Department of the Interior's
15   Solicitor's Office issued a legal opinion that the federal
16   government "had no trust responsibilities to the native
17   Hawaiians either before Statehood or thereafter; and
18   
19        WHEREAS, however, the Clinton Administration has taken a
20   more thoughtful view of federal responsibilities relating to
21   Hawaiians, rescinding the Department of the Interior's legal
22   opinion and enacting Public Law 103-150, commonly referred to
23   as the "Apology Resolution"; and
24   
25        WHEREAS, other federal efforts sympathetic to the Hawaiian
26   people have included the return of Kaho'olawe in 1994 and the
27   creation by the Office of Management and Budget of a distinct
28   category of Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders for federal
29   purposes; and
30   
31        WHEREAS, Hawaii's congressional delegation has been
32   strongly supportive of negotiating at the federal level for
33   resolution on Hawaiian issues; and
34   
35        WHEREAS, Senator Akaka has supported the concept of

 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        


 1   establishing a designated individual agency within the
 2   Department of the Interior to address the political status of
 3   Hawaiians and to provide coordination with Congress on
 4   potential remedies; now, therefore,
 5   
 6        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
 7   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2000, the House of
 8   Representatives concurring, that the federal government is
 9   requested to recognize the political relationship between the
10   U.S. Government and the Hawaiian people in a similar manner
11   afforded to Native Americans and Alaska natives; and
12   
13        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the federal government
14   designate a permanent agency within the Department of the
15   Interior to address Hawaiian reconciliation proceedings and the
16   political status of Hawaiians; and
17   
18        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
19   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the
20   United States, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate,
21   the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the
22   Governor of the State of Hawaii, and the Trustees of the Office
23   of Hawaiian Affairs.
24 
25 
26 
27                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________