Feds want your opinion on Native Hawaiian recognition

The Feds are coming, but is that a good thing?

Not since the long-stalled "Akaka Bill" was batted around in Honolulu in 2000 has there been a serious attempt for an arm of the federal government to come here to listen to the debate on Native Hawaiian recognition.

This week, the call from the U.S. Department of the Interior was to set up hearings next week in Hawaii.

The plan is tentative at best, with federal officials giving many cautions about what could be done.

Should Native Hawaiians form a government, and should the United States help with that organization?

According to the plan released by the Interior Department, the Feds have 60 days to gather comment on whether to go ahead with coming up with a plan.

"Should the Secretary (of Interior) assist the Native Hawaiian community in reorganizing its government, with which the United States could reestablish a government-to-government relationship?" officials said in a release Wednesday.

Then there would be more mulling over what the plan would be and how it would be implemented.

Included in the points to be considered would be, "What conditions should the Secretary establish as prerequisites to federal acknowledgment of a govern- ment-to-government relationship with the reorganized Native Hawaiian government?"

The point is that this all would take place administratively, according to federal officials.

Congress has been unable to come up with a solution because the Akaka Bill is essentially favored by Democrats and adamantly blocked by Republicans. Stalemate.

Back in 2000, Hawaii’s congressional delegation tried to push through the bill, named after its sponsor, former U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka. It would have provided federal recognition for a Native Hawaiian governing entity determined by Native Hawaiians.

Fourteen years ago, Akaka and the late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye held two days of hearings at the Blaisdell Center. Much of the time was taken up with pleas from Inouye and other members of the delegation asking the unruly crowds to behave (http://goo.gl/ymxD1c).

It would behoove the planners to expect similar displays during this new round of hearings. The demonstrations will grab lots of headlines, but that issue won’t be the big thing.

The issue will come at the end of a couple of big "ifs."

First, if the hearings cause the Interior Department to go forward with rule-making, it will be because the Interior Department decides to.

Then if the final rules are adopted, that will be because the secretary of the interior decides to go ahead.

"The state of Hawaii and various state entities will have the ability to weigh in and make public comment about what they think we should and shouldn’t do. Ultimately it is the call of the secretary about whether or not to actually put out a final rule," said Sam Hirsch, a U.S. Justice Department attorney who participated in a Wednesday briefing.

Of course, Hirsch stressed, the public will be involved in formulating the rule and in discussing whether to move forward, but being involved is different from being allowed to vote on the issue.

In many ways, the discussion on federal recognition, sovereignty and forming a government-to-government relationship has been by only a portion of Hawaii’s population.

No matter how enlightened the effort, making a decision about Hawaii should be made by the people who live here, not by one person in Washington.

Resolution of these questions should not happen until all Hawaii voters, and not just Native Hawaiians, are involved and enfranchised.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.