[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1992-1993, Book II)]
[October 6, 1992]
[Page 1769]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Statement on Signing the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act Amendments
October 6, 1992

    I am signing into law S.J. Res. 23, consenting to certain amendments 
to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, notwithstanding reservations I 
have concerning the Act itself. This joint resolution gives the United 
States consent to a number of amendments to the Hawaiian Homes 
Commission Act that were adopted by the State of Hawaii. This consent is 
necessary because section 4 of the ``Act to provide for the admission of 
the State of Hawaii into the Union,'' Public Law 86-3, 73 Stat. 4 
(1959), requires that amendments to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act be 
approved by the National Government. I am signing this bill because it 
gives effect to the desires of the government of the State of Hawaii. 
But I wish to note my concern over the process by which the National 
Government must give its consent to matters that are solely within the 
competence of the State of Hawaii. Such a procedure is at tension with 
federalism principles that lie at the heart of our system of government. 
There is no question that the administration of the public lands in 
question here can be competently handled by the State government.
    I also wish to express another concern. Because the Act employs an 
express racial classification in providing that certain public lands may 
be leased only to persons having a certain percentage of blood ``of the 
races inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778,'' the continued 
application of the Act raises serious equal protection questions. 
Moreover, the Congress has not conducted the type of examination of the 
reasons for and the need to use this classification that the Supreme 
Court has stated is necessary to legitimate such classifications as an 
exercise of the Congress' Fourteenth Amendment enforcement powers.
    Thus, while I am signing this resolution because it substantially 
defers to the State's judgment, I urge that the Congress amend the ``Act 
to provide for the admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union,'' 
Public Law 86-3, so that in the future the State of Hawaii may amend the 
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act without the consent of the United States, 
and note that the racial classifications contained in the Act have not 
been given the type of careful consideration by the Federal Government 
that would shield them from ordinary equal protection scrutiny.

                                                             George Bush

The White House,
October 6, 1992.

                    Note: S.J. Res. 23, approved October 6, was assigned 
                        Public Law No. 102-398.