"fresh meat"
The "Akaka Bill," now pending before the U.S. Senate, will have a negative impact on Hawaii’s construction industry and the state’s economy if approved without the amendments presented by six U.S. Senators who last month put a hold on the bill after voicing concerns over its impact on Hawaii.
The construction industry is a by-product industry. Hawaii’s basic industries, such as the visitor, military (Federal), agriculture, technology, research, communications, and bio-technology must grow before the construction industry can expand.
Hawaii's three part strategic plan was first, to get a commitment by the Department of Defense to assign one of the Stryker Brigades to Hawaii and with it some $700 million over two years for construction on Oahu and the island of Hawaii.
Part two of the strategy was to obtain a commitment by the Department of Defense to home-port a carrier group at Pearl Harbor, bringing with it some $3 billion in construction over six years to the islands of Oahu, Kauai and Hawaii.
The third major project would be the approval by the Department of Commerce to designate South Hilo-Puna a Foreign Trade Zone, bringing in private investors to Hawaii and about $2 billion in construction a year for the next 20 years. The sustainability of the military and the foreign trade would generate approximately $2 to $3 billion a year into Hawaii’s economy through payrolls and other related expenditures.
But the land that could be transferred if the Akaka Bill is passed to the new Hawaiian sovereign government could affect these and other projects vital to the construction industry and the economy.
Here is why. The Akaka Bill states, "The 3 governments (U.S., State and new Native Hawaiian governing entity) would then negotiate an agreement for: Transfer of lands, natural resources and other assets, delegation of governmental power and authority, exercise of civil and criminal jurisdiction, and ‘residual responsibilities’ of the U.S. & State of Hawaii."
The "transfer of lands" includes ceded lands (several thousand acres of public lands now owned by the state and federal government), the Alii trusts lands (such as the Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate), and other lands to be placed in trust that are approved by the U.S. Department of Interior.
The inventory of the ceded lands is not completed, but is estimated to total about 2 million acres, about 46 percent of all the State of Hawaii land area. This inventory includes the Hawaiian Home Lands with about 203,000 acres, Federal Lands with about 409,939 acres, and the State Lands of approximately 1,274,886 acres.
Most recently, the state learned the Pearl Harbor Shipyard was being considered for closure by BRAC, but that issue for now is allayed. However, Pearl Harbor and its shipyard are located on ceded lands. Three of the four Republican senators representing Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, who sit on the Republican Policy Committee chaired by U.S. Sen. Kyle of Arizona, know of the possible future impact on this shipyard and the entire Pearl Harbor from the Akaka Bill. They presented the potential risk to the security of the United States if Portsmouth was closed.
In a July 13, 2005, document, the U.S. Department of Justice wrote to U.S. Sen. John McCain, who chairs the Indian Affairs Committee: "S. 147 should be amended to make clear that the consultation process contemplated in section 5(b) and 6(d) may not be applied so as to interfere in any way with the operations of U.S. military facilities on Hawaii or otherwise affect military readiness."
The Justice Department is aware of the impact of the Akaka Bill on all U.S. military operations. The potential impact of a Native Hawaiian Entity forcing negotiations with the U.S. military, effecting operations by taking control of the military properties and/or imposing a "tax" and "lease" for the use of such property would add cost and loss of control, causing the military to down size or even pull out of Hawaii.
The Justice Department also wrote, "The potential for such interference is well illustrated by litigation currently pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Lilioukalani Coalition v. Rumsfeld) challenging a proposed base expansion." This challenge against base expansion for training required for the Strykers will cost Hawaii the lost of the Stryker Brigade and some $700 million in construction projects already negotiated.
The U.S. House of Representatives also have their concerns. In a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay from Representatives Steve King, Mike Pence, Gil Gutknecht, Dana Rohrabacher, Virgil Goode, Jeff Flake, Ernest Istook, Barbara Cubin, Lynn Westmorland, Jeb Hensarling, Dave Weldon, and others who signed on between July 20 and July 22, 2005, they presented questions about the bill.
Second, these bills raise practical questions that simply have not been addressed. For example, would a race-based government in Hawaii have the power to disrupt our nation's military operations there? Will gambling expand in Hawaii, given this legislation's vague language? Would the new race-based government have new rights to file lawsuits against the federal government under "breach of trust" theories? Will Native American appropriations be depleted when the 400,000 Native Hawaiians across the nation seek to participate in the same programs? How could Hawaii function if people living in the same neighborhood are subject to different laws, regulations, and taxes?
Consider for example, two small businesses in Hawaii competing against one another. One is owned by a Native Hawaiian, and the other is owned by one who is not. The former will be exempt from state taxes, state business regulations, and zoning and environment laws, and the latter will not. These problems and many other questions deserve answers.
The review of ceded lands also includes Hawaii’s harbors, airports, highways, schools, state buildings, and others that are public lands. The Akaka Bill could place all the ceded lands on the table for negotiations and transfer them to a Native Hawaiian Entity.
Finally, the Akaka Bill will have a huge impact to the potential of developing the South Hilo-Puna Foreign Trade Zone, establishing Hawaii as the gateway between East and West; the maintaining of military forces, and the visitor industry.
Ultimately, the changes brought by the Akaka Bill will negatively impact the construction industry and Hawaii’s present growing economy.
James I. Kuroiwa, Jr. is the Director of the Hawaii Laborers-Employers Cooperation Education Trust (HI-LECET)
Welcome Casino Hawaii
I support the withdrawal (by force if necessary) of Christian settlers from Hawaii, and the legitimate rights of the Hawaiian people to an independent Hawaiian state financed by the US government.
Duplicate.
See also http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1465453/posts
This Akaka Bill (appropriately named, in my opinion) is one of the most misguided, inappropriate, wrongheaded, dangerous, divisive, racist, un-American proposals ever to recieve serious consideration in an Amrican body of government.
It needs to be deep-sixed forever.
"""Natives, who are now only about 20 percent of the state population,..."""
Actually only about 5% of the Hawaiian population is pure Hawaiian.
Using the 20% figure draws me back to the days of racial segregation in the US when a black person was defined by stating that anyone with "a drop" a negro blood (as they were called then) was negro.
What is now despised as a racist & idiotic idea is now being espoused by people in Hawaii who want to be defined as Hawaiian because they have "a drop" of Hawaiian blood & could possibly benefit financially by claiming that "drop".
As for Akaka being called a Hawaiian ... he is of Japanese ancestry ... which makes Padraig O'Flaherty who was born in Honolulu "Hawaiian" too.
And another thing: Whoever is demanding this is demanding court imposed segregation. Isn't that a: illegal and b: racist by their own Liberal definition?
Shut up and surf. a HOULIE.
"fresh meat"
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