[ OUR OPINION ]

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Final effort should be
made for Akaka bill

THE ISSUE A U.S. House committee has approved a bill that would provide federal recognition of Hawaiians.

HAWAIIAN recognition probably lost any realistic chance of enactment during the current session of Congress following a Senate procedural standoff two months ago. Rep. Neil Abercrombie's attempt to keep it alive in the House still is worth the effort. Approval by the House at the earliest time would allow Senators Akaka and Inouye to make another attempt for its enactment at the very last moment.

Sen. Daniel Akaka: Bill bearing his name ultimately might be attached to a must-pass appropriations bill

The bill, sponsored by Akaka, has been stalled in the Senate since its approval by the Committee on Indian Affairs last year. Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., using an archaic Senate rule, is believed to have put an anonymous hold on the bill, keeping it from reaching the Senate floor.

Akaka and Inouye tried to circumvent the obstructionist tactic by offering the text of the Akaka bill as an amendment to a bill aimed at limiting lawyers' fees from class-action lawsuits. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., effectively killed the main bill rather than allow it to be melded with the Akaka bill and other unrelated amendments.

The Akaka bill was approved by the full House during the last session and can be expected to win similar passage before an Oct. 3 deadline. Abercrombie won its approval by the House Resources Committee on Wednesday.

If it passes the House, it will be sent to the Senate, requiring a unanimous vote to gain consideration on the floor. That route is not likely, since Kyl will almost certainly object. "He's in opposition to the bill," Kyl spokesman Scott Montrey told The Associated Press, although he does not openly admit to holding up the Akaka bill in the Senate. "Whether he's the one who did it or somebody else, it's not all that important," Montrey said.

That will leave Akaka and Inouye to link the Hawaiian recognition bill to another piece of legislation, but this time before it reaches the floor. Inouye says he plans to attach it to one of 12 appropriations bills the Senate must pass to fund the government. As a ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Inouye is in a position to do so, although committee rules bar amendments proposing "new or general legislation" to appropriations bills.

The Akaka bill has bipartisan support here, and Governor Lingle has made efforts to gain support from the Bush administration. Parts of the current bill -- the House and Senate versions are identical -- were rewritten to satisfy Interior Department concerns.

The bill provides for federal recognition of Hawaiians similar to that afforded American Indian and Alaskan tribes. Kyl has criticized the bill as being unconstitutionally discriminatory, but that question should be decided in court, where it is certain to be challenged.