156
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

URGING CONGRESS TO CLARIFY THE HAWAIIAN HOMES COMMISSION ACT TO
   GIVE NATIVE HAWAIIANS A STATUS LIKE THAT OF INDIANS IN
   ORGANIZED TRIBES AND TO PROVIDE THAT THE STATE OF HAWAII HAS
   BROAD AUTHORITY TO PRESERVE THAT STATUS.



 1       WHEREAS, in acknowledging the participation of the United
 2   States in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the
 3   consequent dispossession of Hawaiians of their lands and the
 4   deleterious consequences to their values, traditions and
 5   culture, the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, was enacted
 6   for the benefit of native Hawaiians;
 7   
 8       WHEREAS, the Act defines "native Hawaiian" as a descendant
 9   of not less than one-half part of the blood of the races
10   inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands previous to 1778; and
11   
12       WHEREAS, in further recognition of the United States'
13   obligation to the native Hawaiians, the Congress of the United
14   States in The Admission Act of March 18, 1959, required that
15   the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act be adopted as a provision of
16   the Constitution of the State of Hawaii; and 
17   
18       WHEREAS, the Supreme Court of the United States in Rice v.
20   whether Congress intended native Hawaiians to have a quasi-
21   sovereign relationship with the United States like that of
22   Indians in organized tribes, and whether Congress delegated to
23   the State of Hawaii a broad authority to preserve that status;
24   and 
25   
26       WHEREAS, Congress declared in the Hawaiian Homes Commission
27   Act that the policy of the Act is to enable native Hawaiians to
28   return to their lands in order to fully support self-
29   sufficiency for native Hawaiians and the self-determination of
30   native Hawaiians in the administration of the Act, and the
31   preservation of the values, traditions, and culture of native
32   Hawaiians; and 

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1       WHEREAS, in order to fulfill the purposes of the Hawaiian
 2   Homes Commission Act, Congress should clarify and reaffirm, by
 3   amending or consenting to an amendment to the Hawaiian Homes
 4   Commission Act, that the Act is the Federal government's
 5   recognition that native Hawaiians be accorded a status like
 6   that of Indians in organized tribes and that the State of
 7   Hawaii has broad authority to preserve that status; now
 8   therefore
 9   
10       BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
11   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
12   of 2000, the Senate concurring, that the President of the
13   United States, and the United States Congress are respectfully
14   urged to take any and all actions, including amending or
15   consenting to an amendment to the Hawaiian Homes Commission
16   Act, 1920, to clarify and reaffirm that native Hawaiians have a
17   status like that of Indians in organized tribes, and that the
18   State of Hawaii has a broad authority to preserve that status;
19   
20       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
21   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the
22   United States, President of the United States Senate, the
23   Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and
24   Hawaii's congressional delegation.  
25 
26 
27 
28                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________