Monday, November 4, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Akaka Bill postponed: Dems balk at OHA cronies' demands for more loot
By Selected News Articles @ 8:23 PM :: 12785 Views :: Energy, Environment, National News, Ethics

(The Advertiser FINALLY decided to run an article on the Akaka Bill vote.  Hawaii Free Press readers knew this was coming since Monday.  It turns out that this week featured a secret showdown over just how much grift the OHA gang could grab for themselves if they become the Akaka Tribe.) 

House committee postpones key vote on Akaka bill

By John Yaukey Advertiser Washington Bureau

(skip to the important parts)

The vote postponement follows some written criticisms of the bill by prominent members of the Native Hawaiian legal community.

In a four-page analysis of the legislation sent to the Natural Resources Committee, the Native Hawaiian Bar Association voiced concern that some provisions would grant the federal government too much immunity against potential claims by Native Hawaiians, especially for land.

(They want the Akaka Tribe but they are unwilling to trade away the PASH decision and the opportunity to shake down future Hokulias.)

"The bill's provisions on claims and federal sovereign immunity appear to be overly broad and may prohibit lawsuits by individual Native Hawaiians," the bar association wrote. "They create an extraordinarily unusual circumstance in which Native Hawaiians are barred from bringing an action."

At stake ultimately — in addition to the political future of the Native Hawaiians — is control over some 1.8 million acres of land that many Native Hawaiians believe was taken illegally in the United States' annexation of Hawaii in 1898.

Approval of the Akaka bill in the Natural Resources Committee would send the bill to the full House for a vote. The Senate has not acted on the bill yet.

Its first test in the Senate would be before the Indian Affairs Committee, where Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, is a senior member.

Akaka is hoping the committee will take it up before Congress begins its August recess.

Originally proposed in 2000, the Akaka bill has been passed repeatedly in the House but has hit walls in the Senate, where single lawmakers can hold bills at will.

The legislation came closest to passing in 2007, when it cleared the full House, but it was never brought to the Senate floor for a full vote.

The Akaka bill's mostly Republican opponents, who have quashed the legislation in the past, contend it is race-based. 

(And that is such a useful shaping of the opposition that Democrats AND THEIR MEDIA want to make sure that no other reason for opposing the Akaka Bill is ever expressed.)

But they now face an overwhelmingly Democratic Congress and a Hawaii-raised president who has vowed to sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

(The bottom line is that the Committee Democrats are fighting amongst themselves and some may be balking at the OHA gang's naked grab for power, money, and land.  Apparently they do not have enough votes to get it through.  The Trustee Class' unbridled greed it is undoing.) 

RELATED: Hastings: Dept of Justice seeks changes in Akaka Bill , Akaka Bill UPDATE: House Committee CANCELS Thursday vote

Background:

Akaka Bill hearings: OHA, lawyers balk at giving up nepotism, greenmail

Kamehameha Day, 2009 -- Abercrombie, Hirono, Akaka, Inouye sending Hawaiians back to tribalism?

House Natural Resources Committee considers Akaka Bill

The Akaka Bill: A Cash Cow for Democrats

OHA driving Hawaiians out of Hawaii

Price of Apology: Clinton, Obama, and the Hawaiian Quid Pro Quo

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii