SENATE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE TO MARK UP LEGISLATION, HOLD HEARING ON NATIVE HAWAIIAN GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION

- 08/06/09

WASHINGTON D.C -
 The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will hold a business meeting on Thursday, August 6, to mark up several bills pending before the committee and then conduct a hearing on the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act.

    The 2:15 PM hearing will be held in Room 628 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

The committee will markup three bills:

•    S.J. Res 14 – a joint resolution to acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-concieved American policies toward Native Americans..

•    H.R. 1129 – a bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide an annual grant to facilitate an iron working training program for Native Americans.

•    S. 443 – a bill to transfer certain land to the United States to be held in trust for the Hoh Indian Tribe, and for other purposes.

Following action on the above legislation, the committee will convene a hearing on

S. 1011, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009.  

The legislation would establish a process for Native Hawaiians to re-constitute the Native Hawaiian government that existed prior to 1893, when non-native revolutionaries, with the assistance of the U.S. military, seized government buildings and established a provisional government that was recognized by the U.S. government. It also reaffirms the special political and legal relationship between the United States and the reorganized Native Hawaiian government. This relationship would be similar to the relationship that exists on between the United States and the Native American tribes.

Witnesses will include the following:

•    Hon. Sam Hirsch, Deputy Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice.

•    Hon. Haunani Apoliona, Chairperson, Board of Trustees, Office of Hawaiian Affairs;

•    Professor Stuart M. Benjamin, Associate Dean for Research, Duke Law School.

•    Hon. Micah A. Kane, Chairman, Hawaiian Homes Commission.

•    Mr. Christopher Bartolomucci, Partner, Hogan and Hartson.

•    Mr. Robin Puanani Danner, President and CEO, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.

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