A study commissioned by a group opposed to a native Hawaiian government within the United States estimates it would cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

Akaka Bill Awaits Congressional Session

 

Supporters of the Akaka bill are gearing up for another push for passage in the new Congressional session.

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  The libertarian Grassroot Institute of Hawaii's study, released yesterday, predicts a native Hawaiian government would snatch public land and up to $690 million in state tax revenues per year.

But the Office of Hawaiian Affairs said the report “;is based on fear and spreads misinformation,”; because the native Hawaiian legislation pending before Congress does not provide for land transfers or tax breaks.

The $15,000 study was conducted by the Beacon Hill Institute, a public policy think tank at Suffolk University in Boston. It assumes residents and businesses of a native Hawaiian government would be exempt from state income and excise taxes, similar to American Indians on reservations.

“;We're going to have a nation carved out of the state of Hawaii, and we don't know the impact,”; said Dick Rowland, co-founder of the Grassroot Institute. “;It's frightening.”;

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, who is pushing the measure in Congress, said the legislation only spells out a method to create an entity that would represent Hawaiians to the U.S. government.

“;Part of the point of the Akaka Bill is not to dictate what will happen, but set up a process ... so future leaders can make the decisions themselves,”; spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke said.

The measure would set up a native Hawaiian governing body that would negotiate with the federal government over its powers and land base.

OHA accused the Beacon Hill Institute of being biased and affiliated with “;radical neo-conservatives.”;

“;The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act does not cause a loss of tax revenues or a loss of state land,”; OHA said in a statement. “;The bill reaffirms existing political and legal status as native people and sets forth a mechanism of federal recognition for a reorganized native Hawaiian representative governing entity.”;