STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1280

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 55

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 55 entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR TO SUPPORT LEGISLATION THAT REDESIGNATES DISCOVERERS' DAY IN HAWAII TO INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' DAY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to support legislation that redesignates the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Le Aupuni O Hawaii, HPACH, and twenty-two individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure is based on the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was adopted on September 13, 2007, by the United Nations General Assembly.  The Declaration sets out the individual and collective rights of the world's 370 million native peoples, calls for the maintenance and strengthening of their cultural identities, and emphasizes their right to pursue development in keeping with their own needs and aspirations.

 

     Your Committee believes that the use of the name Discoverers' Day to recognize the first arrival of non-Polynesians to Hawaii is problematic because of the inhumane nature of the concept of discovery as applied to humans as opposed to things.  Since 1992, an increasing number of American states, cities, local governments, and institutions have renamed or abolished Columbus Day.  Indigenous Peoples Day and Native American Day are two of the most prominent names now used to recognize the day. 

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Amending its title for accuracy; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 55, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 55, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

 

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair