The notation for amendments is similar to my state, so I expected something like that.
But, I'd like you to take a look at an example:
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/ViewChapter.aspx?key=20600.17898
It will load a large file, so you may need to be patient. Then, use your browser to search for this string:
SUBCHAPTER H. LICENSE TO CARRY A CONCEALED HANDGUN
Page down just a bit, and you'll see the same kind of notation, in reverse chronological order. The "top" entry is:
Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 165, Sec. 10.01(a), eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
If you didn't have any other knowledge, it would look like this law was enacted in 1997.
But, it wasn't. It was enacted in 1995. However, it was added to a different statute by the Legislature. The identical language was moved from that statute to this one, by a bill that is enacted every year to make "nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted codes, to the nonsubstantive codification or disposition of various laws omitted from enacted codes, and to conforming codifications enacted by the [previous] Legislature".
This bill is always huge. If you are really interested in it, I'll follow up with a link. However, my point is that the modification history doesn't show this particular statute existed before 1997.
I'm not saying that Hawaii might have done the same thing. I just wanted to point out one of the possibilities. Without more research (you have already done plenty, and thank you!) using a paid subscriptions to Lexus or Westlaw, it's going to be difficult for the average guy to piece all this together conclusively.
In Texas, all of the legislation is online back to 1989, and one can eventually find the bill that enacted a new law or a change in a law, along with the bill analysis that explains the rationale. If I have time later this week, I'll check the Hawaii websites to see if they have something similar. But, I doubt they go back that far.
For info on Hawaii adoption law as it exists today [....]
One thing I noticed was the birth certificate for adoption of a foreign born person -- but the original certificate must show the known or probable country of birth. I'm not claiming or even suggesting that this situation applies to Obama, but I wonder what a Certificate of Live Birth derived from this birth certificate would show?
Hey - you are absolutely correct that the law could possibly have been enacted somewhere “else” and then moved to this provision. (Believe it or not, I actually started to add that caveat, then got distracted and simply forgot.)
So, that is a possibility. I can say that I checked both Lexis and Westlaw and could not find any prior “version” of that law in any other provision. Might I have missed it? Absolutely!! But I couldn’t find it.