...Two competing bills - Senate Bills 1 and 1520 - are moving through the state Capitol, both laying out the steps - creating a voter roll, drawing up the documents of a government, having the electorate ratify it. Then the state would recognize the new political entity, which would render the Office of Hawaiian Affairs extraneous....
...Unfortunately, both bills involve the state too directly in the government formation, drafting some combination of governor, House speaker and Senate president to appoint the initial commission that creates the voter roll.
Both also would appropriate tax funds for implementation. Once the state becomes so enmeshed in an action benefiting only a specific ethnic group, the action runs the risk of a constitutional challenge. It would be better if only money that was set aside for indigenous programs - the trust fund - be used....
...The wiser course of action at this point would be to table these bills until they can be repaired. While Akaka Bill backers are surely frustrated that legislation has stalled at the federal level, it makes no sense to charge ahead with a state bill that could easily land the state in another legal quagmire.
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