Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 1, 1 January 2013 — Akaka renews call for Akaka bill passage [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Akaka renews call for Akaka bill passage

As U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye lay in state in the Capitol rotunda, retiring Sen. Daniel Akaka urged his colleagues to pass the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act in his honor. Speaking on the Senate floor on Dec. 20, Akaka said, for more than 12 years, he and Inouye have worked to pass the bill "to ensure that Native Hawaiians have the same rights as other native peoples and an opportunity to engage in the same government-to-government relationship with the United States already granted to over 560 native nations throughout the country, across the continental U.S. and in Alaska - but not yet in Hawai'i." Akaka said native communities across the nation were mourning the loss of Inouye, who died Dec. 17. Akaka called the former Indian Affairs Committee chairman a ehampion for natives who introduced more than 100 pieces of legislation on behalf of American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians and who secured passage of the Native Hawaiian Heahh Care Improvement Act, Native Hawaiian Education Act, Hawaiian Home Lands Recovery Act and the Native Hawaiian Homeownership Act. "I urge my colleagues to pass the Native Hawaiian Government

Reorganization Act in memory of Senator Daniel K. Inouye and his desire to provide parity to the Native Hawaiian people he loved so mueh," Akaka said.

Retiring U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka urged passage of the Native Hawaiian Goverment Reorganization Act to honor the late Sen. Daniel lnouye, a ehampion for native rights. - lmage: Youīuhe