Report Title:

Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as Amended.

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, in acknowledging the participation of the United States in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the consequent dispossession of Hawaiians of their lands and the deleterious consequences to their values, traditions, and culture, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, was enacted for the benefit of native Hawaiians; and

WHEREAS, the declared policy of the United States and the State of Hawaii in the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended (HHCA), is to enable native Hawaiians to return to their lands to fully support self-sufficiency and self-determination for native Hawaiians; and

WHEREAS, the HHCA defines "native Hawaiian" as any descendant of not less than one-half part of the blood of the races inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands previous to 1778; and

WHEREAS, in further recognition of the United States' obligation to the native Hawaiians, the Congress of the United States in The Admission Act of March 18, 1959, required that the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act be adopted as a provision of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, in early 1993, the United States Department of the Interior's Solicitor's Office issued a legal opinion that the federal government "had no trust responsibilities to the native Hawaiians either before Statehood or thereafter"; and

WHEREAS, the view of federal responsibilities relating to Hawaiians, has been strengthened by the rescinding of the Department of the Interior's legal opinion and enacting Public Law 103-150, commonly referred to as the "Apology Resolution"; and

WHEREAS, the enactment of the HHCA and the subsequent actions of the United States and the State of Hawaii evidence the special political status of native Hawaiians in the HHCA; and

WHEREAS, the resolution of various issues currently confronting native Hawaiians necessitate a reaffirmation by the United States and the State of Hawaii of their respective special political relationships with native Hawaiians; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature of the State of Hawaii reaffirms the special political relationship of the State of Hawaii with native Hawaiians under the HHCA; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Governor is requested to effectuate the Legislature's reaffirmation of the special political relationship of the State of Hawaii with native Hawaiians; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States is requested to reaffirm its special political relationship with native Hawaiians under the HHCA; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, Hawaii's Congressional Delegation, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the U.S. Attorney General, the U.S. Secretary of State, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, and the Governor of the State of Hawaii.

OFFERED BY: