Daniel Akaka Governing Quotations

My intent in drafting this bill is to provide Native Hawaiians with the opportunity to reorganize their governing entity for the purposes of a federally recognized government-to-government relationship with the United States, ... This is important because it provides parity in the way the federal government deals with the indigenous peoples who inhabited the lands which have become the United States.

The question of whether or not Congress has the authority to federally recognize a Native Hawaiian governing entity is an issue that has yet to be ruled on by the courts,