STAND. COM. REP. NO. 764

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1

       S.D. 2

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE RECOGNITION OF THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE, THEIR LANDS, ENTITLEMENTS, HEALTH, EDUCATION, WELFARE, HERITAGE, AND CULTURE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide for the recognition of Native Hawaiians as the indigenous people of Hawaii and establish a process for the reorganization and recognition of a Native Hawaiian governing entity.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; the Association of Hawaiian Civil Clubs; and one individual.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Aha Hawai‘i ‘Oiwi, the Native Hawaiian Convention; the Hawai‘i‘imiloa Movement; and twenty individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Mainland Council of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs.

     Your Committees find that the federal Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009, commonly known as the "Akaka Bill", proposes to establish a process for indigenous Native Hawaiians to gain federal recognition similar to that of an Indian tribe.  Two of the goals of federal recognition are to protect the Hawaiian Home Lands trust from Fourteenth Amendment challenges and to advance Native Hawaiian self-governance and self-determination.  While federal recognition by Congressional legislation is currently stalled, state recognition of the Native Hawaiian people is necessary and achievable.

     Your Committees believe that the State must give full recognition of Native Hawaiians and provide assistance and funding to facilitate their self governance through a Native Hawaiian governing entity, of, by and for Native Hawaiians.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Revising the definition of a "qualified Native Hawaiian" for the purposes of clarity; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and accuracy.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

____________________________ DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair