[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 25, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E75-E76]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION ACT OF 
                                  2005

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. ED CASE

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 25, 2005

  Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I am proud and humbled to again cointroduce 
with my Hawaii

[[Page E76]]

colleague, Mr. Abercrombie, during this 109th Congress, as we did in 
the 108th Congress, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act 
of 2005. Identical legislation was introduced today by Hawaii Senators 
Akaka and Inouye, again marking a united commitment by Hawaii's entire 
delegation to the most vital single piece of legislation for our Hawaii 
since Statehood.
  This legislation affirms the longstanding political relationship 
between Native Hawaiians, the indigenous peoples of our Hawaii, and our 
federal government, and extends to Native Hawaiians the time-honored 
federal policy of self-determination provided other indigenous peoples 
under U.S. jurisdiction.
  Mr. Speaker, allow me to be direct: this is crucial to the Hawaiian 
people and to our Hawaii. The stakes are nothing more or less than the 
survival and prosperity not only of our indigenous people and culture, 
but of the very soul of Hawaii as we know and love it.
  I speak to you today on behalf of all of Hawaii's people and all 
those worldwide for whom Hawaii, in all of her forms, be they natural, 
environmental, cultural, social, and spiritual, is a truly special and 
unique place. And I say to you that that Hawaii--the Hawaii that is the 
indigenous home of all Native Hawaiians, that my own ancestors and many 
other non-Native Hawaiians committed themselves to since recorded 
Western discovery in 1778, and that so many throughout the world 
continue to view as a beacon for what can be in our world--that Hawaii 
has never been so at risk as today.
  It is at risk because it is a creation of and rests upon the 
foundation of our Native Hawaiian people and culture, and their 
survival and prosperity are at risk. As they go, so goes Hawaii as we 
know it, and a Hawaii which is not Hawaiian is not a Hawaii I can bear 
to accept.
  Nor is federal recognition for Native Hawaiians exclusively a Hawaii 
issue. Census figures show that our country is home to more than 
400,000 Native Hawaiians, with 160,000 living outside of Hawaii. And 
clearly the preservation of the Hawaii that so many throughout our 
world have come to know and love is of great concern to so many well 
beyond our borders.
  So our goal is not only reaffirming the longstanding historical and 
legal relationship between Native Hawaiians and the United States, not 
only delivering fairness and justice to Native Hawaiians, but ensuring 
the very survival and prosperity of our Native Hawaiian people and 
culture and, through them, Hawaii itself. And this is a truly common 
goal, evidenced by broad-based support among Hawaii's political 
leaders, and Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike, which spans ethnic, 
partisan and other distinctions.
  The goal of assisting Native Hawaiians is not new to our Federal 
Government. Beyond a longstanding relationship that was reaffirmed when 
Hawaii became a territory in 1900 and a State in 1959, over 160 federal 
statutes have enacted programs to address the conditions of Native 
Hawaiians in areas such as Hawaiian homelands, health, education and 
economic development based on Congress' plenary authority under our 
U.S. Constitution to address the conditions of indigenous peoples. 
These have been matched by state and quasi-autonomous entities such as 
the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Home 
Lands, and private entities like The Kamehameha Schools. And they have 
borne fruit with a renewed focus on unique Native Hawaiian needs and a 
renaissance of Native Hawaiian culture. Federal recognition is the 
means by which these indispensable efforts can be carried forward into 
the next generation of Native Hawaiian governance.
  Federal recognition is also the time-honored means of memorializing 
our government's relationship with the indigenous peoples of the 
contiguous 48 states and Alaska. There, either government-to-government 
treaties or the Bureau of Indian Affairs recognition process or 
legislative recognition have extended self-determination and affirmed 
relationships. Although the difference between those peoples and Native 
Hawaiians is exclusively geographic, such means have simply not been 
either available or exercised in the case of Native Hawaiians.
  Nor is the concept of extending federal recognition to Native 
Hawaiians a new one. The enactment into law in 1993 of the Apology 
Resolution (P.L. 103-150) expressed a national commitment to 
reconciliation efforts between Native Hawaiians and the Federal 
Government. Subsequent efforts through the Departments of Justice and 
Interior, as well as the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and 
Pacific Islanders established by executive orders of both Presidents 
Clinton and Bush, yielded federal recognition legislation and the 
inclusion of Native Hawaiians in federal programs and services as top 
priorities. During the 106th Congress, the House even passed federal 
recognition legislation for Native Hawaiians on September 26, 2000.
  Most recently, the Department of Interior also moved forward on the 
establishment of the Office of Hawaiian Relations. Structurally 
organized under the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and 
Budget, the new office is a welcome and positive step forward in 
coordinating policies within the Department as they affect Native 
Hawaiians. Already, the Department oversees pertinent issues such as 
Hawaiian home lands, historic preservation, the Native American Graves 
Protection Act, the Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Program, and the 
consideration of Native Hawaiians in natural resources management, 
including at our Hawaii national parks.
  The time has clearly come for our Federal Government to strengthen 
its relationship with Native Hawaiians in order to resolve longstanding 
issues and ensure the survival and prosperity of the Native Hawaiian 
people and culture and of their special home. For all of us in Hawaii, 
Mr. Speaker, and in fact for all Native Hawaiians, wherever, throughout 
our country and world they may live, I urge the passage of this vital 
legislation.

                          ____________________