SB732

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that indigenous peoples, including Native Hawaiians, have thrived and remained resilient for generations, contributing to the world through rich histories, knowledge, and cultural practices. However, generations of federal and state policies sought to bring shame to, assimilate and displace indigenous peoples and eradicate native cultures. In Hawai‘i, this fact, coupled with the introduction of new infectious diseases brought by western missionaries, resulted in an eighty-four per cent decline in the Native Hawaiian population in the first sixty years since Captain James Cook's arrival in the islands in 1778.

The legislature additionally finds that the movement to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day in the United States began as a protest of Columbus Day, which was declared to commemorate the anniversary of Columbus' landfall in the Western Hemisphere. Statewide, Indigenous Peoples' Day honors and commemorates the histories, cultures, and traditions of indigenous peoples and recognizes that the colonial takeovers of the Americas, starting with Columbus, led to the deaths of millions of Native people and the forced assimilation of survivors. The movement to replace Columbus Day began in 1990, with South Dakota becoming the first state to rename the holiday. Since 1992, a growing grassroots effort to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples' Day or Native American Day has spread to seventeen states and the District of Columbia. In 2021 and 2022, President Biden issued a proclamation that recognized Indigenous Peoples' Day on the second Monday of October, "honor[ing] the sovereignty, resilience, and immense contributions that Native Americans have made to the world". Indigenous Peoples' Day recognizes the continued survival of the descendants of indigenous people worldwide, including Native Hawaiians, and in Hawai‘i, honors the individuals who first made the islands habitable.

The legislature further finds that presently, Hawai‘i is one of seventeen states that does not celebrate Columbus Day and instead observes Discoverers' Day on the second Monday in October "in recognition of the Polynesian discoverers of the Hawaiian islands" pursuant to Act 220, Session Laws of Hawaii 1988. While Discoverers' Day acknowledges the ancestors of Native Hawaiians and other indigenous Polynesians who discovered Hawai‘i, recognizing and designating Indigenous Peoples' Day as a state holiday will serve as a day to educate Hawai‘i's people about the State's obligation to the original inhabitants of the ‘āina (land) and the State's continued protection of all rights customarily and traditionally exercised by the descendants of those native people, celebrate the revival of previously-taboo cultural practices such as hula and ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i, and all cultures that form Hawai‘i today.

Therefore, the purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Designate the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples' Day; and

(2) Establish Indigenous Peoples' Day as a state holiday.

SECTION 2. Section 8-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§8-1 Holidays designated. The following days of each year are set apart and established as state holidays:

The first day in January, New Year's Day;

The third Monday in January, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day;

The third Monday in February, Presidents' Day;

The twenty-sixth day in March, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day;

The Friday preceding Easter Sunday, Good Friday;

The last Monday in May, Memorial Day;

The eleventh day in June, King Kamehameha I Day;

The fourth day in July, Independence Day;

The third Friday in August, Statehood Day;

The first Monday in September, Labor Day;

The second Monday in October, Indigenous Peoples' Day;

The eleventh day in November, Veterans' Day;

The fourth Thursday in November, Thanksgiving Day;

The twenty-fifth day in December, Christmas Day;

All election days, except primary and special election days, in the county wherein the election is held;

Any day designated by proclamation by the President of the United States or by the governor as a holiday."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	732
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII