Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 4, 1 April 1993 — Hawaiian Congress bills amended [ARTICLE]

Hawaiian Congress bills amended

by Jeff Clark A bill calling for a Hawaiian Congress, or constitutional eonvention, continues to make its way through the state Legislature. It passed the state House of Representatives with substantial amendments and crossed over to the Senate on March 1 1.

Sponsored by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, HB 1992 would establish a convention in whieh elected Hawaiian delegates would draft a document that, if ratified by Hawaiian voters, would form the basis of a sovereign Hawaiian entity. A special House-Senate hearing was held Feb. 15 at Mabel Smyth Auditorium in Honolulu to receive comments from the eommunity on all the sovereigntyrelated bills. HB 1992 passed out of the House Hawaiian Affairs Committee to Finance with 13 amendments, including • holding a pre-ConCon referendum election, in whieh

Hawaiians will vote on whether they want to have a ConCon. Under this proposal, on May 2, 1994 a mail-in ballot election would allow Hawaiian voters to address the question, "Shall there be a Hawaiian constitutional eonvention to propose a constitution for the govemance of a Hawaiian Sovereign Nation?"

• a change in the timing; the bill now sets the convention back to 1994 instead of 1993. Delegates would be elected during the regular state primary election in September, 1994. The last day for ratification was put back to March 1, 1995. The bill was also amended to: • outline registration procedures to allow participation by Hawaiians not already registered to vote in OHA trustee elections; • increase the number of delegates from 101 to 121 by adding 14 at-large delegates for the island of Hawai'i, three for Maui, one for Moloka'i and two for Kaua'i; and name the Legislative

Reference Bureau instead of OHA as the agency to provide support services to the convention. During a Feb. 26 hearing on the bill by the House Finance Committee, OHA trustee A. Frenchy DeSoto said she had reservations about the delayed time frame. Having the election of delegates coincide with the state primary election discriminates against Hawaiians wanting to run in both, she said.

Mililani Trask, kia'āina of Ka Lāhui Hawai'i, said she opposed the House version of the bill because "virtually every step of the process is dictated to us by the state." Trask and other Ka Lāhui members told the representatives that the ConCon would cost too mueh and would take funds away from the educational, housing and health care needs of Hawanans. Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell said he opposed the bill because it was "initiated not by us but by the

illegal establishment" and is "an affront to the kānaka maoli heritage." An advocate for total Hawaiian independence, he said, "the United States must withdraw from our homeland." OHA Board supports 1994 ConCon

During its regular business meeting March 4 in Honolulu, the OHA board of trustees adopted recommendations on HB 1992, House Draft 1 that were suggested by the OHA legislative review committee. The board voted to support the timing of the ConCon process to allow for the referendum to be conducted by mail-out in October; the election of delegates by mail-out in May, 1994; the convention in JuneAugust 1994 (to allow for the use of public schools for meetings and thereby reduce costs); and ratification election simultaneously with the state's general election in November, 1994. The BOT opposed Senate Bill 1028, whieh calls for a plebiscite to let Hawaiians answer the ques-

tion, "Shall there be Loa'a Ka Pono (to secure what is right) to consider and decide issues relating to self-governance?" The bill would establish a Loa'a Ka Pono Organizing Committee (LOC), with representatives from eaeh group representing Hawaiians, that would implement and educate Hawaiians and the general public on the plebiscite. If the answer to the plebiscite is yes, then the LOC would hold an eleehon of delegates to the Loa'a Ka Pono.

The Loa'a Ka Pono would be bicameral, with one chamber elected and the other determined by the LOC to maximize rural representation. The Loa'a Ka Pono would establish its own procedures, and no time limit would be placed on its work. The Senate Ways and Means Committee amended the bill to require that the LOC have at least 15 members. SB 1028 crossed over to the House and at press time was pending the House Committee on Hawaiian Affairs.