Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 12, 1 December 2005 — Akaka Bill hopes turn to next year's session [ARTICLE]

Akaka Bill hopes turn to next year's session

By Derek Ferrar Public lnformation Specialist

With just a few working days remaining in this year's congressional session, supporters of the Akaka Bill are conceding that there is no real ehanee the bill could pass both houses of Congress before the session ends in midDecember. However, Sen. Daniel Akaka and other supporters of the bill, whieh would extend U.S. politieal recognition to a future Native Hawaiian governing entity, say they will eonhnue to press for its passage when Congress returns to work in January. Akaka told reporters he remains "confident that the bill will be considered" before the 109th Congress ends its two-year cycle at the end of 2006. Meanwhile, OHA Administrator Clyde Nāmu'o

said there is still a "slim ehanee" that a procedural motion, known as "cloture," could be filed at the end of the Senate's current session, whieh would force a vote at the beginning of the next session. "Senators Akaka and Inouye have told us that they still haven't given up on seeking a cloture vote this year," Nāmu'o said. If 60 of the 100 senators approve a cloture motion, a time limit would take effect for the vote to receive a limited amount of debate and a final up-or-down floor vote. A cloture vote on the bill, whieh is also known as the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005, had been scheduled for early September, but was cancelled due to the Katrina and Rita hurrieane emergencies and President Bush's Supreme Court nominations.

Short of a cloture motion, Nāmu'o said, Akaka and Inouye would at least like to get Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on the official congressional record as being committed to bringing the bill up for a vote in 2006. But even if none of this occurs, the bill will start the new session with the same status it has currently - awaiting scheduling for a Senate vote, but held up by procedural holds placed by several senators who oppose the measure. OHA Chairperson Haunani Apoliona told the Gannett News Service in Washington that OHA and other supporters of the bill will eonhnue to press for its passage. "We eonhnue to be optimistic that we will persevere," she said. "Plan B" Nāmu'o said that regardless of whether or not the Akaka

Bill passes anytime soon, the Hawaiian community should proceed with the process of forming a representative body using the voter base being built by the Kau Inoa registration process. More than 40,000 Native Hawaiians in Hawai'i and on the continent have already signed up for Kau Inoa, indicating that they are interested in participating in the formation of a Hawaiian governing body. "To me , that ' s Plan B ," Nāmu ' o said. "Let's create a governing entity regardless of the federal legislation, so that when we do get to Congress, it ean speak on behalf of Hawaiians (as a formal representative body)." Nāmu'o said the broad-based Native Hawaiian Coalition, whieh has been meeting for two years to discuss the process of forming a Hawaiian entity, has identified the components neeessary to found such a body.

Among the nation-building eomponents identified by the eoalition are community education and organization, voter registration, election of delegates, and finally a constitutional convention to draft and ratify founding documents. Nāmu'o said the next step would be to engage nonprofit organizations - preferably Hawaiian ones - to organize district apportionment, voting for delegates and the eventual 'aha, or constitutional convention. That process would likely be funded by OHA and overseen by a community-based committee to ensure that the process envisioned by the Native Hawaiian Coalition is followed, he said. "The issue for me is that the process needs to be managed fairly so that all Hawaiians who are interested will be able to participate," Nāmu'o said. "But if it's the will of the people - if enough Hawaiians are interested in organizing ourselves - then let's go for it." S

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