Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 7, 1 July 2010 — What is your responsibility? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

What is your responsibility?

Wt.V gress passes t h e Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act (Act), every Native Hawaiian will be required to make certain personal decisions. In this eolumn, I would like to discuss some of those decisions, what those decisions will require

of you and their possible ramifications for you. BEC0ME A C0NSTITUENT 0F THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN 60VERNIN6 ENTITY (NH6E)? The first decision you will need to make is whether you in fact want to be active in the fonnation of the NHGE as a constituent. Enrolhnent as a constituent in the Native Hawaiian Goveming Entity (NHGE) is not automatic and is not guaranteed. Even though your name is enrolled in OHA's Hawaiian Registry or in Kau Inoa you will not automatically be a constituent of the NHGE. You must submit your name to the Commission that will be fonned under the Act along with documentation that will show to the Commission that you meet the various criteria for enrollment as a "qualified Native Hawaiian constituent"(NHC). So,eventhough you may know you are Hawaiian, and for the most part we all do, we must meet the Act's criteria for enrollment as an NHC. There is one interesting provision here: the Act provides that a "non-Hawaiian" may be eligible as a qualified Native Hawaiian constituent if that person ean show that he and his parents are considered as Native Hawaiian by the Native Hawaiian conununity and he meets the other requirements in the Act. Interesting, huh? Who says

the Act and the NHGE are "race based?" Other requirements must be met; however, the point is that your individual involvement in the NHGE is entirely up to you. PARTICIPATE IN C0MMUNITY MEETIN6S Onee the Conunission has established the NHC ī-oll, it is required to hold at least three meetings with

the NHC, eaeh lasting at least two days, to develop criteria for candidates to be elected to serve on the Council, the number of members of the Council, and its structure. The Council will develop the governing documents for the NHGE, whieh will detennine, for example, criteria for membership in the NHGE, and the powers and authorities to be exercised by the NHGE. It needs to be noted that the Act requires that membership in the NHGE must be voluntary and ean be relinquished. So, if you become enrolled as an NHC, you need to determine what qualities and qualifications you believe a member of the Council should have in order to represent you in fonnulating the governing documents for the NHGE, and express your views at the public meetings. The meetings will undoubtedly make for creative and probably heated debate. For example, what criteria should the Council members meet? Should they be steeped in Native Hawaiian customs, practices and traditions? Must they be fluent in the Hawaiian language? Should they have knowledge or experience in Western governmental structure and practice? And the structure of the NHGE will also engender See HEEN on page 31

Walter M. Heen TrustEE, ū'ahu

HEEN

Continued from page 26 considerable discussion. You should be willing to express whether you favor a Western fonn of government, perhaps consisting of a central body to determine codes andregulations applicable to all NHC, or a more dispersed authority among the various conununities of NHC and regulating NHC activities in smaller areas, perhaps like an ahupua'a. Participation in those meetings is extremely important. PARTICIPATE IN THE ELECTIONS T0RATIFYTHE60VERNIN6 DOCUMENTS Onee the goveming documents are drafted by the Council they will be distributed to the NHC and an eleehon will be held for their ratification. At this point, obviously,

you must study the documents and detennine whether they comport with your ideas, ambitions and requirements for an NHGE and whether they will, in fact provide a solid basis for the improvement of the conditions of the NHC. If so, then you should vote to ratify the governing documents. If they do not conform to your views, then you should vote not to ratify them. IT'SUPT0Y0U! After all is said and done, the NHGRA provides the framework for Native Hawaiians to have a strong voice in the establishment, function and operation of the NHGE. Like everything else in life it will work only if we all make the effort to understand the initiatives set forth there, detennine whether we want to participate in this monumentally historic moment, and PARTICIPATE! ■