Honolulu Star-Advertiser - November 17, 2010
US Senator Daniel Akaka has introduced a compromise version of a native Hawaiian federal recognition bill and is waiting to hear from Senate leaders whether legislation can move during a lame-duck session before the end of the year.
The version was negotiated between the state's congressional delegation and the Lingle administration and has the support of Governor Linda Lingle.
If Akaka is given time on the Senate floor this year, however, the version would likely be offered as an amendment to an older version of the bill that moved through the committee process.
"It was just to get it on the record and to show the world that we are going to honor the agreement with Lingle," explained Jesse Broder Van Dyke, an Akaka spokesman.
Akaka, D-Hawai`i, likely needs 60 votes to break Republican procedural opposition in the 100-member Senate. Akaka has been relying on one Republican, US Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, to help him get to 60 votes. Murkowski lost in the GOP primary but has won in the general election as a write-in candidate.
If the bill were to clear the Senate, it would have to go back before the House for approval, since the House passed a different version of the bill earlier this year.
Clearing both chambers would be difficult given the short amount of time left this year. The bill may have an even more difficult road next year, when Republicans take over the House and increase their ranks in the Senate.
