That bill will allow an election asking native Hawaiians if Hawaiians should elect delegates to a convention who would then propose a government.
Some groups, including Ka Lahui Hawaii, oppose the plan, saying the state can't control native Hawaiians. They plan to continue to work toward a mail-in election this summer.
The election is just the first step in a long process.
The tool for change, the tool for accountability and the tool for fairness will be seized by those who run for elected office.
The deadline to enter the fall elections for offices from mayor and City Council to state Legislature and Congress is July 23.
As Milton Friedman said, "Governments never learn. Only people learn."
Given its head, government in Hawaii will continue to seek ways to expand government in Hawaii.
Unless someone changes the operating rules, Hawaiians will hear just talk, not see action. The news reports continue to chronicle the economic cruelties suffered.
Hawaiians were bounced off the land at Sand Island, off the land at Makapuu lighthouse and just yesterday at Makua.
Through the decades, Hawaiians have been forced from place to place, squeezed and pushed until finally government has had to act with bulldozers.
The problems remain and the reaction comes as we look at symbols not causes.
The cries will best be heard when they fall upon Hawaiian ears. Camps along the beach will come and go depending on the grace of those elected. The reason why people of Hawaii are forced to live in tents will have to be addressed by those elected.
But as others have noted, a great many persons are able to become members of the Legislature without losing their insignificance.
Our two elected groups, the Legislature and the county councils, themselves struggle to exist. Not because of a lack of food or living space but a lack of relevance.
Good words aside, both the councils and the Legislature have looked and listened but not acted.
The ceded lands settlement was put through the Legislature and there have been increasing calls to modify the deal. As the Rev. Frank Chong, executive director of the Waikiki Health Center, said of the problems affecting us all: "The lack of creative problem solving is having a major impact on the entire community. Cutting program services does not equate with cost savings."
NO politically akamai Hawaiian doubts that the future looked better when John Waihee, our first native Hawaiian elected governor, was in Washington Place. Since then, the Year of the Hawaiian just doesn't have the same ring to it.
Some of the 300 forced from Makua by the state will also be helped by the state. For some there is housing, for a few there are jobs and for others there is yet another no-win cause.
Hawaiians will win for real when they win this November.