Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 5, 1 May 2011 — NHGRA recap and update [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NHGRA recap and update

Aloha All, I was happy to see that the Akaka hill was revived and r e i n t r o -

duced in both houses of Congress. Most recently, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, chaired by Senator Akaka, marked the hill out of committee with no amendments on April 7. After the committee report is filed, the hill will then be put on the Senate calendar for future floor consideration. We have gotten Senate floor

consideration only onee since the hill was originally introduced about 10 years ago and that was in 2006 when Republican senators indicated they would support the hill at least for the purpose of cloture, whieh is a procedure the Senate has for getting bills heard if one Senator opposes bringing the hill to the floor for vote. A vote of 60 senators is required and usually at least 64 need to be eommitted. Last time several senators were absent for personal reasons such as health, family, etc. In addition, at the last moment, the Civil Rights Conunission issued an unfavorable report against the hill and the Department of Justice sent out a letter in opposition, whieh caught all by surprise. The loss of Republican support and the unexpected absence of Democratic senators caused us to garner only 56 votes for cloture. That was not anticipated and we returned from Washington, D.C., licking our wounds and vowing to implement an immediate plan as we awaited the next attempt to pass the hill in Congress. Kau Inoa was the first step in an effort to ultimately obtain state recognition of a Native Hawaiian goveming entity. That effort is not dead — just in transition as we await the state Legislature's decision on initiating a similar effort from a legislative impetus. In 2008 a new president and a Democratic majority

in both houses gave mueh promise to getting the hill through. We had the cloture votes in the Senate, we had the majority votes in the House, and we had a

President who would sign the hill. All the stars were aligned. We even had our Republican govemor in full support and so full steam ahead. OHA kept in touch with our legal advisers and lobbyists in D.C. and was following the counts on votes there when .... In December 2009 the hill was suddenly changed to language that Govemor Lingle could not accept. Her negative reaction led to

the loss of Repubhcan support. The source of groups who were involved in these changes was reported in the Advertiser. OHA has been realistic in its approach to the bill's passage and has sought to take one step at a time. Better we get something and work to improve as have the Alaskans than demand it all at one time. The only other altemative is get nothing. And that's what we have at the moment. In July 2010 agreement was reached between the Lingle administration and Senators Akaka and Inouye, and the hill as passed out of committee was to be amended on the Senate floor to address the concems of the State. Time, however, ran out and the hill died as a new House Repubhcan majority eame into office. Today, the newly introduced hill is similar to the one opposed by the Lingle administration and so absent an agreement to amendment on the Senate floor we're back to December 2009. On the House side, with a Republican majority we face difficult times. Mere enthusiasm does not trump votes. More votes will. Hopefully our side will eome together to provide something that ean be agreed to by us and our opponents in Congress. So let's get this hill passed for Senator Akaka, and all Hawai'i. ■

Būyd P. Mūssman VicE Chair, TrustEE, Maui