Bill Text: HI SCR2 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: OHA Package; Apology Resolution; Commemoration
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-02-13 - Referred to THA/PSM, JDL. [SCR2 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2013-SCR2-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
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TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
COMMEMORATING THE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF PUBLIC LAW 103-150, RECOGNIZING THE PROGRESS MADE TOWARDS RECONCILIATION AND NATIVE HAWAIIAN SELF-GOVERNANCE AND SELF-DETERMINATION, REAFFIRMING THE STATE'S COMMITMENT TO RECONCILIATION WITH NATIVE HAWAIIANS FOR HISTORICAL INJUSTICES, URGING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO ADVANCE RECONCILIATION EFFORTS WITH NATIVE HAWAIIANS, AND SUPPORTING EFFORTS TO FURTHER THE SELF-DETERMINATION AND SOVEREIGNTY OF NATIVE HAWAIIANS.
WHEREAS, in 1993, the United States Congress passed Public Law 103-150 (the "Apology Resolution"), acknowledging and apologizing for the critical role of United States diplomats, military forces, and citizens in the overthrow of the sovereign Kingdom of Hawai‘i; and
WHEREAS, the Apology Resolution confirms that the actions of United States agents in the overthrow and occupation of the Hawaiian government violated treaties between the United States and the sovereign Kingdom of Hawai‘i, and norms of international law; and
WHEREAS, the Apology Resolution confirms that 1,800,000 acres of crown and government lands were thereafter ceded to the United States without consent or compensation to the Native Hawaiian people or their sovereign government, as a result of the United States' annexation of Hawai‘i; and
WHEREAS, the Apology Resolution recognizes that the Native Hawaiian people never relinquished their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people or of their national lands throughout the overthrow, occupation, annexation, and admission of Hawai‘i into the United States; and
WHEREAS, the Apology Resolution recognizes that the health and well-being of the Native Hawaiian people is intrinsically tied to their deep feelings and attachment to the land; and
WHEREAS, the Apology Resolution recognizes that the Native Hawaiian people are determined to preserve, develop, and transmit to their descendants, both their ancestral lands and their cultural identity; and
WHEREAS, the Apology Resolution acknowledges that the overthrow has resulted in the suppression of the inherent sovereignty of the Native Hawaiian people; and
WHEREAS, the Apology Resolution apologizes to the Native Hawaiian people on behalf of the people of the United States, commends the efforts of reconciliation initiated by the State of Hawaii and the United Church of Christ with the Native Hawaiians, including the appropriation of funds to educate the public regarding Hawaiian sovereignty; and
WHEREAS, the State Legislature also passed Act 340, Session Laws of Hawaii 1993, mandating that the lands and waters of Kaho‘olawe island be held in the public land trust, directing the State to transfer management and control of these lands and waters to the sovereign Native Hawaiian entity upon its recognition by the United States and the State of Hawai‘i, and establishing the Kaho‘olawe Island Reserve Commission to manage these lands and waters in the interim; and
WHEREAS, the State Legislature passed Act 329, Session Laws of Hawaii 1997, recognizing the deep sense of injustice felt among many Native Hawaiians and others, affirming that reconciliation with the Native Hawaiian people is desired by all people of Hawai‘i, and providing for an interim appropriation of revenues from the public land trust to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for the betterment of Native Hawaiians; and
WHEREAS, in 2000, the United States Solicitor General, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Justice published a report, "From Mauka to Makai: The River of Justice Must Flow Freely," confirming the trust responsibility of the United States with respect to the Native Hawaiian people; and
WHEREAS, in 2000 and 2002, the United States Congress passed Public Law 106-568, the Hawaiian Homelands Homeownership Act, and Public Law 108-110, the reenacted Native Hawaiian Education Act, confirming the special trust relationship between the federal government and the Native Hawaiian people; and
WHEREAS, in 2005, Hawai‘i's entire congressional delegation, including then-representative and current Governor of Hawai‘i, Neil Abercrombie, as well as the then-Hawai‘i Governor, expressed to the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs their unanimous support for self-governance and self-determination for Native Hawaiians; and
WHEREAS, in 2008, the Supreme Court of the State of Hawai‘i also affirmed that the lands acquired by the illegal overthrow of 1893 continue to be held in trust for the benefit of the Native Hawaiian people, and ruled that such lands must be so held until the public purpose of a lasting reconciliation with the Hawaiian people has been achieved; and
WHEREAS, in 2008, the Supreme Court of the State of Hawai‘i also recognized the critical importance of the ‘āina to Hawaiian people and stated that "[w]e firmly believe that, given the 'crucial importance [of the ‘āina or land to] the [n]ative Hawaiian people and their culture, their religion, their economic self-sufficiency, and their sense of personal and community well-being', any further diminishment of the ceded lands from the public lands trust will negatively impact the contemplated reconciliation/settlement efforts between native Hawaiians and the State"; and
WHEREAS, the State Legislature passed Act 195, Session Laws of Hawaii 2011, acknowledging that Native Hawaiians are the only indigenous, aboriginal, maoli population of Hawai‘i nei, that the State of Hawai‘i has a special political and legal relationship with the Native Hawaiian people, that Native Hawaiians have continued to maintain their identity as a distinctly native political community with rights to self-determination, self-governance, and self-sufficiency, and establishing a Native Hawaiian roll commission to maintain a roll of qualified Native Hawaiians to facilitate Native Hawaiian self-governance; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Legislature hereby commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the Apology Resolution, recognizes the progress that has been made towards reconciliation and Native Hawaiian self-governance and self-determination, reaffirms the State's commitment to reconciliation with the Native Hawaiian people for historical injustices, urges the federal government to advance reconciliation efforts with Native Hawaiians, and supports efforts to further the self-determination and sovereignty of Native Hawaiians; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hawai‘i, the Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, and the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
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OFFERED BY: |
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OHA Package; Apology Resolution; Commemoration
