STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3536

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  H.C.R. No. 41
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs and
Transportation and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was
referred H.C.R. No. 41 entitled: 

     "HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION SUPPORTING FEDERAL RECOGNITION
     OF A HAWAIIAN NATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to provide legislative
support to the sovereign rights of Native Hawaiians and to
recognize the need to develop a government-to-government
relationship between a Hawaiian nation and the United States
government.

     The measure also requests that the United States Congress
and the President articulate and implement a federal policy of
Native Hawaiian self-government with a distinct, unique, and
special trust relationship and to implement reconciliation
pursuant to Public Law 103-150.

     Testimony in support of the measure was received from the
Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Department of Hawaiian Home
Lands, the Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce, the Association
of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, and four private citizens.

     The Hawaiian Political Action Council of Hawaii, Kanawai O
Na Lahui, and a private citizen testified in opposition to the
measure.


 
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     Your Committees find that during the 1980s and early 1990s,
there were many impediments at the federal level, to a
consideration and resolution of issues related to ceded lands and
to Hawaiian political status.  In 1983, the federal Native
Hawaiian Study Commission Majority Report concluded that the
federal government was not liable for the loss of sovereignty or
lands arising from the overthrow, and in 1989, the Bush
administration disavowed the position of the Carter
administration that there was a trust relationship between the
Hawaiian people and the federal government.  Additionally, in
early 1993, the 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."

     However, in recent years, the Clinton administration has
taken a more thoughtful view of federal responsibilities relating
to Hawaiians, rescinding the Department of the Interior's legal
opinion and enacting Public Law 103-150, commonly referred to as
the "Apology Resolution".  Other federal efforts sympathetic to
the Hawaiian people have included the return of Kaho'olawe in
1994 and the creation by the Office of Management and Budget of a
distinct category of Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders for federal
purposes.

     Your Committees believe that in order to comprehensively
resolve the longstanding issues over sovereignty and native
Hawaiian rights that have beleaguered the State, the federal
government, and most importantly, the Hawaiian people, the
federal government must recognize the sovereign rights of the
indigenous people of Hawaii to establish a governmental structure
of their own choosing.  Any attempt at a comprehensive solution
prior to such recognition would be at best, incomplete.

     Your Committees also recognize the importance of petitioning
the United States government with a single voice speaking for all
Hawaiian people towards a common goal so that the federal
government will understand the depth of conviction of Native
Hawaiians on this issue.

     Recognizing the need for a unified message, your Committees
have amended the measure by:

     (1)  Inserting new "WHEREAS" clauses that describe the
          importance of the centennial observation of the illegal
          overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii;

     (2)  Recasting the existing "WHEREAS" clauses in the measure
          to focus on the need for the federal government to

 
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          effect a clear statement about the political status of
          Native Hawaiians and to establish a Native Hawaiian
          nation;

     (3)  Adding the word "native" before the word "Hawaiian" in
          the title and text of the measure;

     (4)  Adding the National Congress of American Indians, the
          Alaska Federation of Natives, and the members of the
          Hawaiian Homes Commission to the transmittal clause;
          and

     (5)  Limiting the requirement that certified copies of the
          measure be transmitted to all the members of the 106th
          Congress of the United States to just the presiding
          officers of the United States Senate and House of
          Representatives.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs and
Transportation and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to
this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose
of H.C.R. No. 41, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption
in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 41, S.D. 1.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Water, Land, and
                                   Hawaiian Affairs and
                                   Transportation and
                                   Intergovernmental Affairs,



____________________________       ______________________________
CAL KAWAMOTO, Chair                COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair




 
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