Native Hawaiian Self-Governance Bill Makes it out of Indian Affairs Committee

The current version of the the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, S.310, was approved by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee this week. A similar bill was also approved by the committee in 2006, only to be defeated by a 56-41 vote by the full senate. The Bush Administration Attorney General's office, while acknowledging that the current version of the bill addresses most of the practical concerns it had raised in response to the prior bill, still expressed objections to the bill as ancestry and race based legislation. Thoughtful op-eds and writings by Indian law profs on this subject might be timely now.

A link to the bill, as well as statements and video made at the May 3, 2007 hearing in the Committee can be found on the committee website here:

http://indian.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=70