US FED WRECK NOW ON FAST TRACK
Honolulu Star-Advertiser - September 29, 2015
The U.S. Department of the Interior today announced that Native Hawaiians — not the federal government — would decide whether to reorganize a Native Hawaiian government, what form that government would take, and whether it would seek a government-to-government relationship with the United States.
“The United States has a long-standing policy of supporting self-governance for Native peoples, yet the benefits of the government-to-government relationship have long been denied to Native Hawaiians, one of our nation’s largest indigenous communities,” U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said in a statement out of Washington, D.C. “Today’s proposal is testament to the Obama Administration’s strong support for our nation’s Native peoples’ right to self-determination.”
The proposal takes the form of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that followed a series of public hearings across the islands last year. The Interior Department said the notice builds on more than 150 federal statutes enacted by Congress over the last century between the United States and Native Hawaiians.
Hawaii’s Congressional delegation unanimously hailed today’s announcement.
