Bill Text: HI HCR192 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requesting The Governor To Issue A Proclamation To Designate January 2018 To January 2019 As The Year Of The Hawaiian And Requesting The Office Of Hawaiian Affairs To Study And Recommend To The Legislature A Plan To Celebrate The Year Of The Hawaiian.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-29 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Aquino, Oshiro, Say, Thielen excused (4). [HCR192 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2017-HCR192-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	192
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR TO ISSUE A PROCLAMATION TO DESIGNATE jANUARY 2018 TO jANUARY 2019 AS THE YEAR OF THE HAWAIIAN AND REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS TO STUDY AND RECOMMEND TO THE LEGISLATURE A PLAN TO CELEBRATE THE YEAR OF THE HAWAIIAN.

 

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians have a demonstrated history of independent thought, the ability to think critically, and the facility to express themselves effectively through a number of public venues, media, and forums to challenge existing norms, policies, and rules consistent with the growing renaissance, rebirth, and rise in their understanding and knowledge of Native Hawaiian history, Native Hawaiian culture, Native Hawaiian traditions, and Native Hawaiian values; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians are the indigenous native people of the archipelago of the Hawaiian Islands; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians built a sustainable community in the Hawaiian archipelago beginning as early as 400 to 600 A.D. and continuing until the present; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians created a communal stewardship over land, ocean, and all natural resources to subsist and to sustain a growing ‘ohana; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians are believed to have voyaged originally to and from the Marquesas Islands and later to and from Tahiti to the Hawaiian Islands; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians ended their active voyages by canoe back and forth from Polynesia in 1400 A.D. and restarted their voyaging tradition again in 1976 with the first trans-Pacific sailing of the Hokule‘a; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1976, Native Hawaiian sailors on Hokule‘a's maiden voyage to Tahiti began to re-establish traditional Polynesian wayfinding using the stars, the waves, the winds and the birds as mapping points for direction, thereby resurrecting wayfinding traditions used by Hawaiian navigators to explore the Pacific and settle within the Hawaiian Islands; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2013, Native Hawaiian voyagers and way-finders embarked on the Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage to sail around the world to celebrate the Hawaiian culture, to perpetuate traditional Polynesian voyaging, and to create hands-on world-wide educational programs to malama ‘aina; and

 

     WHEREAS, the pace at which Native Hawaiians are taking action to reaffirm their relationship with the ‘aina and to imbed Native Hawaiian customs, traditions, and values in government processes and decision-making at all levels of government continues to quicken demonstrably, and Hawaiian concepts of kuleana, malama ‘aina, and ‘aina momona, to name a few, have now become part of the vernacular of modern-day governance in Hawai‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, data indicates that the Native Hawaiian population is growing:

 

     (1)  2010 United States census data indicates there were 527,077 Native Hawaiians living in the United States with 289,970, or fifty-five percent, living in Hawaii, which comprises 21.3 percent of Hawai‘i's total population;

 

     (2)  2013 United States census data indicates there were 560,488 Native Hawaiians overall - a population growth rate that is one of the nation's highest based on the population growth measured from 2000 to 2010; and

 

     (3)  2013 United States census data indicates that the Native Hawaiian population is expected to double before 2050; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians commemorations for Makahiki, for Lā Kū‘oko‘a (November 28), for Lā Ho‘iho‘i Ea (July 31), for the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom (January 17), and for the birthdays of the mō‘ī grow stronger each year and are an indication that more Hawaiians are reflecting upon the meaning of the line from the song "Kalauna Na Pua" - "Ua lawa mākou i ka pōhaku" - which speaks to a growing sense of Hawaiian unity and nationalism and which means, "as long as there is a stone in our islands we will endure"; and

 

     WHEREAS, it has been nearly thirty years or approximately one generation in duration since the gathering (called Ho‘o Lako) of over 40,000 Native Hawaiians consisting of individuals, families, Native Hawaiian practitioners, hula halau, cultural experts, kumu hula, political leaders, educators, and many others from all walks of life gathered on January 23, 1988, at Honolulu Stadium to celebrate their shared culture, shared kinship, and shared connection to Hawai‘i Pae‘Āina; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1988, Papa Ola Lokahi was created by the United States Congress to address the 1985 E Ola Mau, The Native Hawaiian Health Needs Assessment, to administer the Native Hawaiian Health Care Act passed by the United States Congress, establish strategic partnerships, programs, public policies, and consult with federal agencies in order to improve the health of Native Hawaiians; and

 

     WHEREAS, Papa Ola Lokahi created five health care systems on all the major islands tailored to meet the needs of the Native Hawaiian communities on each island by providing a wide range of services such as primary care, pharmacy, nutrition and traditional diets, dental, mental health and substance abuse, and traditional healing programs and services; and

 

     WHEREAS, Papa Ola Lokahi created health career scholarship programs that have enabled over 265 Native Hawaiian health professionals to complete their education and serve in Native Hawaiian communities that suffer from health care shortages; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiian health professionals have:

 

     (1)  Developed and shared cutting-edge health research and best practices in the areas of diabetes, cancer, hypertension, heart disease, patient access, and social services;

 

     (2)  Achieved a specific ethnic and racial category for Native Hawaiians Or Pacific Islanders (NHOPI) separate from Asians, to be used in collecting and evaluating federal demographic and census data;

 

     (3)  Assisted the federal government to establish that "raising the health status of Native Hawaiians to the highest possible level" as a national goal; and

 

     (4)  Been instrumental in creating the Department of Native Hawaiian Health at the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), which in turn has led to a significant increase in the number of Native Hawaiian physicians and researchers, as well as the number of Native Hawaiian applicants, students, and graduates at JABSOM; and

 

     WHEREAS, the JABSOM Department of Native Hawaiian Health has won awards of more than $90,000,000 from the National Institutes of Health to support and train Native Hawaiian researchers in health disparities research; and

 

WHEREAS, the ‘Ahahui o na Kauka, or Native Hawaiian Physician’s Association, has grown from 11 physicians in 1975 to 320 today; and

 

     WHEREAS, a recently published Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism study discovered that 18,400 individuals in the State of Hawai‘i speak Hawaiian language in their homes; and

 

     WHEREAS, ‘Aha Punana Leo's Hawaiian language preschool immersion program has educated over 6,000 students since it first began operations in 1983; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Kula Kaiapuni K-12 public Hawaiian language immersion program, where the medium of instruction for all subjects is the Hawaiian language, has now graduated 18 successive classes of students beginning in 1999 and continuing through 2016; and

 

     WHEREAS, the oldest of these students who have now attained the age of 35, and many of these graduates, who are now parents, choose to enroll their children in Hawaiian language medium schools where instruction is completely in Hawaiian; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Congress authorized and funded the Native Hawaiian Education Act in 1988 to address and support the educational needs of Native Hawaiians and reauthorized the Act in 1994, 2001, and 2015; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Congress has also authorized and funded the Native American Languages Act in 1990 to revitalize, preserve, and increase the use of native languages (including the Native Hawaiian language) and has appropriated funds annually for it; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Kamehameha Schools has collected and analyzed Native Hawaiian data and published the Native Hawaiian Education Assessment in 1983, 1993, and 2005 to identify and track trends, needs, and positive and negative disparities, and has assisted in researching, collecting, developing, and highlighting promising practices that may be implemented and shared to improve the overall well-educational being and achievement of Native Hawaiian children; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Kamehameha Schools and the Department of Education have entered into a memorandum of understanding to advance the Hawaiian language as a medium of teaching in public schools, promote Hawaiian culture-based education statewide, and share data to increase college completion for Native Hawaiian students; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Kamehameha Schools built two additional campuses on the neighbor islands of Maui (Pukalani) in 1996 and Hawai‘i (Kea‘au) in 2001, which, in combination with the existing Kapalama campus, built in 1931, annually educate 5,300 students every year; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1987, the first Kula Kaiapuni immersion schools were opened in Hilo and Waiau, which have grown in numbers since then; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2017, the Kamehameha Schools celebrates 50 years of its Hawaiian culture-based explorations program Ho‘omāka‘ika‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, there has been a substantial growth in Native Hawaiian charter schools so that 15 of the existing 31 state charter schools are now Native Hawaiian focused, participate as part of the Native Hawaiian Charter School Alliance known as Nā Lei Na‘auao, and are learning communities that are pedagogically aligned in unique and various ways with Native Hawaiian culture, language, traditions, and values; and

 

     WHEREAS, since 1988, Native Hawaiians have worked with the University of Hawai‘i (UH) to designate the following campuses as a Hawaiian Place of Learning: Kahaka‘ula O Ke‘elikolani at UH-Hilo, Hawai‘i Nuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at UH-Mānoa; and

 

     WHEREAS, the UH has also hired additional Native Hawaiian faculty and extended service learning into Native Hawaiian communities; and

 

     WHEREAS, since 1988, access to historic Hawaiian language newspapers has been made possible through translation, scanning, and crowd sourcing typography, which have increased insights into the history of Hawai‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, Ulu‘ulu: The Henry Ku‘ualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawai‘i, was created in 2012 to perpetuate and share the rich moving image heritage of Hawai‘i through the preservation of film and videotape related to the history and culture of Native Hawaiians and the people of Hawai‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, ‘Ulukau is a free digital online library for Hawaiian language materials that include searchable Hawaiian language dictionaries, newspapers, books, the Hawaiian Bible, genealogy, māhele and other place name resources, and was created in 2005; and

 

     WHEREAS, ‘Ulukau was spearheaded by Hale Kuamo‘o of Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke‘elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at UH Hilo and Ka Waihona Puke ‘Oiwi Native Hawaiian Library at Alu Like, averages over two million searches a month, and is approaching 106,000,000 searches in total, serving over 48,000 researchers; and

 

     WHEREAS, to increase the social, economic, health, and educational well-being, self-determination, and quest for justice, Native Hawaiians have actively engaged and consulted with local, state, federal, and international governmental and non-governmental entities and agencies to define, develop, and pursue goals, policies, and positions consistent with Native Hawaiian culture, traditions, and values; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Department of the Interior and the Department of Justice conducted meetings in 1999 in the Hawaiian community to investigate the progress made on the reconciliation efforts being undertaken between the United States and Native Hawaiians, as provided in the Apology Resolution, to solicit input from the Hawaiian community on needed reconciliation efforts, and to recommend actions necessary to achieve this desired reconciliation in a 2000 report titled "Mauka to Makai: The River of Justice Must Flow Freely"; and

 

     WHEREAS, the federal government established an Office of Native Hawaiian Relations within the Department of the Interior, as recommended in the 2000 report, and developed and adopted an administrative rule in 2016 within the United States Department of the Interior to provide a pathway for a Native Hawaiian government comprised of Native Hawaiians to achieve federal recognition if so desired; and

 

     WHEREAS, Act 195, Session Laws of Hawaii 2011, established the Native Hawaiian Roll Commission and provides, in pertinent part in section 1, as follows:

 

               The legislature finds that the State has never explicitly acknowledged that Native Hawaiians are the only indigenous, aboriginal, maoli population of Hawaii.

 

               Native Hawaiians are the indigenous, native people of the Hawaiian archipelago and are a distinctly native community.  From its inception, the State has had a special political and legal relationship with the Native Hawaiian people and has continually enacted legislation for the betterment of their condition.

 

          . . .

 

               The purpose of this Act is to recognize Native Hawaiians as the only indigenous, aboriginal, maoli population of Hawaii.  It is also the State's desire to support the continuing development of a reorganized Native Hawaiian governing entity and, ultimately, the federal recognition of Native Hawaiians.  The legislature urges the office of Hawaiian affairs to continue to support the self-determination process by Native Hawaiians in the formation of their chosen governmental entity.

 

     WHEREAS, throughout the month of February 2016, over 130 Native Hawaiians residing in Hawaii, on the mainland, and across the world gathered on Oahu for one month to prepare a draft of a constitution delineating the basic rights of its future Native Hawaiian citizens and setting forth the form, structure, and function of the proposed legislative, executive, and judicial branches of a proposed government premised on the idea that "[w]e join together to affirm a government of, by, and for Native Hawaiian people to perpetuate a pono government and to promote the well-being of our people and the ‘aina that sustains us . . . [w]e reaffirm the national sovereignty of the nation . . . [w]e reserve all rights to sovereignty and self-determination, including the pursuit of independence . . . [o]ur highest aspirations are set upon the promise of our unity and this Constitution”; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians have worked since 1988 on the restoration of at least 30 fishponds on the islands of Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Moloka‘i, Maui, Lana‘i, and Hawai‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, since 1988, Native Hawaiians have expanded the annual Makahiki spiritual ceremonies and cultural celebrations from Kaho‘olawe to the islands of Hawai‘i, Moloka‘i and O‘ahu, including at Mākua Valley, Bellows Air Force Station, Mokapu, Moku‘ume‘ume (Ford Island) and in state prisons; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians and Hawai‘i's people, with the assistance of the Protect Kaho‘olawe ‘Ohana, caused the stopping of the bombing of Kaho‘olawe in 1990, returned the island to the people of Hawai‘i in 1994, worked to restore the island's cultural and natural resources, re-established the island as a Native Hawaiian cultural learning center, and established that the island would be transferred from the State of Hawai‘i to a sovereign Hawaiian entity once that entity was recognized by the State of Hawai‘i and the United States; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1993, Native Hawaiians observed the 100th Anniversary of the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, which was chronicled in "Onipaa: Five Days (January 13-17) In The History of the Hawaiian Nation", and the United States Congress enacted and the President of the United States signed Public Law 103-150 (The Apology Resolution) on November 23, 1993, apologizing to Native Hawaiians "for the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i on January 17, 1893, with the participation of the agents and citizens of the United States, and the deprivation of the rights of Native Hawaiians to self-determination" and called for reconciliation between Native Hawaiians and the United States; and

 

     WHEREAS, Royal Societies whose origins are rooted in the legacies of Hawaiian Ali‘i such as the Royal Order of Kamehameha originating in 1865, the Ka‘ahumanu Society founded in 1905, the Māmakakaua Daughters and Sons of Hawaiian Warriors originally formed as Daughters of the Warriors in 1911, Hale O Nā Ali‘i O Hawai‘i formed in 1918, and ‘Aha Hipu‘u, a hui formed in 2003 of the four royal societies, continue to ensure that Native Hawaiians maintain a connection to their unique Native Hawaiian heritage, history, and traditions; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaiian homestead community organizations were formed by various homestead community members to advance the economic and social improvement of the residents living within these Hawaiian homestead communities and, of the 30 then-existing homestead associations, 19 joined together in 1987 to form the Sovereign Council of the Hawaiian Homestead Assembly (SCCHA), which continues today with 35 of the 48 existing homestead communities represented by the SCCHA; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, established in 1918, which has grown over the years to 58 chapters located on the four islands of O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, Maui, and Kaua‘i, as well as on the mainland, continues to maintain an active and growing presence in our communities to address the needs of Native Hawaiians with respect to enhancing and improving their lives, preserving Native Hawaiian culture, language, and traditions, increasing education, improving economic well-being, and increasing the civic engagement of Native Hawaiians in all aspects of modern civic life; and

 

     WHEREAS, efforts to return and repatriate the Ki‘i La‘au and Kalani‘ōpu‘u's mahiole and ‘ahu‘ula to Hawai‘i have been successful; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawai‘i was selected to host the 2016 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) world conference, the only time the United States was selected to host this event in the 60-year history of the IUCN, a conference which prominently shared Native Hawaiian culture, Native Hawaiian traditions, and Native Hawaiian best practices to malama ‘aina with participants, representatives, and delegates from governmental and non-governmental entities from around the world; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaii Tourism Authority has recently created the following:

 

     (1)  Kūkulu Ola, a program supporting community based projects that enhance, perpetuate, and strengthen Native Hawaiian communities and their cultural practices;

 

     (2)  Aloha ‘Āina, a program of community based projects that manage, improve, and protect Hawai‘i's natural resources and strengthen ‘āina-kānaka relationships; and

 

     (3)  Ma‘ema‘e, a program to create a toolkit to assist the visitor industry in representing Hawai‘i in an accurate and authentic manner, which highlights the uniqueness and richness of the Hawaiian culture; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians have shared their ancestral knowledge and cultural practices of subsistence fishing and monitoring and managing marine resources with the State of Hawai‘i, which has led to the establishment of the Hā‘ena Community-Based Subsistence Fishing Management Area (CBSFA) and a proposal for the Mo‘omomi Northwest Coast of Moloka‘i CBSFA; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians have initiated laws to protect the sacred burial grounds of their ancestors; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians have raised the consciousness throughout Hawai‘i of the importance of practicing Aloha ‘Āina - loving, caring, respecting, and honoring the precious and fragile lands, seas, and climate of Hawai‘i Pae‘Āina - which has led to significant policies and programs to protect the sustainability of Hawai‘i's natural resources; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians have partnered with state, federal, and private entities to protect and restore important cultural resources such as Pu‘ukoholā Heiau, Wao Kele O Puna Forest Reserve, Lapakahi, Hapaiali‘i Heiau, Ku‘emanu Heiau on Hawai‘i Island; Kalaupapa on Moloka‘i; Kūkaniloko Birthing Stones in Waimea Valley; Ulupō Heiau and Maunawila Heiau on O‘ahu; and the Wailua complex of heiau on Kaua‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians have worked to restore stream waters essential to healthy ecosystems for the cultivation of taro at Waiahole, O‘ahu; Nā Wai Ehā on Maui; and East Maui; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiian artists and film makers have joined together through the Hawaiian Media Makers project to exercise their kuleana over their cultural sovereignty by developing protocols:

 

     (1)  To assure that digital media and films depicting Native Hawaiians are produced respectfully and display Hawaiians in an accurate and authentic way; and

 

     (2)  To kāko‘o and educate individuals and companies who are filming in Hawai‘i and who may not be aware of Native Hawaiian cultural protocols; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians have asserted their cultural rights, as well as their reciprocal and interdependent familial and communal relationship to all living things, as expressed in the Kumulipo, a Hawaiian creation chant, by drafting and affirming the Paoakalani Declaration of 2003 to protect genetic material and indigenous and traditional Native Hawaiian knowledge from bioprospecting, exploitation, and misappropriation; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians have worked with members of their rural communities to restore lo‘i kalo where it once grew on our Hawaiian islands; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiian men have re-established the protocols and practices of the Hale Mua; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiians have revived the discipline, protocols, and practices of lua, Native Hawaiian fighting arts; and

 

     WHEREAS, the list of Native Hawaiians who have achieved high proficiency and excellence in their fields of endeavor is too long to mention, is continually growing, and includes fields and disciplines of music, sports, the arts, filmmaking, hula, writing, literature, academics, medicine, law, history, social work, teaching, politics, business, science, Native Hawaiian culture and traditions, and Native Hawaiian language restoration and revitalization; and

 

     WHEREAS, after the explosion of Native Hawaiian accomplishment and achievement grounded in the language, culture, history, and traditions of Native Hawaiians over the past 30 years, it is now time to pause, celebrate, and commemorate all that has been achieved with the hope and intention of inspiring future generations of Native Hawaiians;

now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2017, the Senate concurring, that the Governor is requested to issue a proclamation to designate January 2018 to January 2019 as the Year of the Hawaiian; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is requested to:

 

     (1)  Study and recommend to the Legislature a plan to celebrate the Year of the Hawaiian, including celebratory and commemoration events and fund raising; and

 

     (2)  Submit the plan and any proposed legislation to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2018; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is requested to coordinate, collaborate, and communicate with the Native Hawaiian community to organize, plan, and raise funds for the celebratory events and commemoration activities that will occur over the course of the Year of the Hawaiian in various venues and locales yet to be determined; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Kamehameha Schools, Papa Ola Lokahi, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, Native Hawaiian Education Council, Nā Lei Na‘auao, and Polynesian Voyaging Society.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Year of the Hawaiian