The Akaka Bill is back on the table in Washington, D.C. No other piece of legislation has greater potential to change the political and social landscape in Hawai'i.

Now, a rare window of opportunity has opened. Those who have something to say, one way or the other, had better say it now.

The Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs will hear the bill Thursday (see box), moving the Native Hawaiian federal recognition issue back to center stage. Debate over the bill - now dubbed S. 310, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2007 - already has simmered long enough for most people to form an opinion.

A lot of those opinions are based on an imperfect understanding of the bill, but even those who are clear on the concept have drawn radically different conclusions.

Supporters - including The Advertiser's editorial board and most elected leaders in the state - believe a law to recognize Hawaiians as a political class of people is needed to insulate federal benefits aimed at Hawaiians from constitutional and legal challenges. It would start an admittedly difficult but necessary move toward negotiations to finally settle injustices arising from the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy more than a century ago.

Some critics believe it's a complete sell-out - the current version includes some significant concessions aimed at defusing the organized opposition in Washington, D.C.

Other foes of the bill question the premise that Native Hawaiians are owed anything, not even the recognition offered to Native Americans and Native Alaskans across the Mainland. They also fear the racial qualification for benefits and leadership in a new government would enshrine unequal treatment.

Chief proponents include the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, which has rededicated itself to the fight, despite disappointment with some of the more recent concessions.

Among these: the declaration that sovereign immunity would insulate the state and federal governments from Native Hawaiian court claims, meaning that all settlements would take place in the negotiations between a newly organized Native Hawaiian political entity and the state and federal governments.

However, this should be seen as a compromise that could move the bill past Square One. It would reduce the likelihood that the bill would create a new legal backlog in the state and federal courts.

OHA officials and selected others are heading to D.C. this week, primarily to make the legal case that the Constitution would allow Native Hawaiian recognition. In-person testimony is accepted only by invitation, but anyone can submit it in writing.

The campaign to win the votes needed to bring this bill to the Senate floor should begin now, and elected leaders across the state should make their support known. Last session, the push for a final Senate vote fell short, and some of this opposition remains entrenched. It's going to take a concerted effort, by those in Hawai'i as well as in Washington, to ensure that the effort doesn't fail this time.

Some of the bill's support has been tepid in the past, based as much on political sensitivity as on true dedication to the cause. But those whose heart is really in the fight should not sit on the sidelines any longer. The opportunity may not come again.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Apr/29/op/FP704290311.html

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