Statement on Signing a
Bill Amending the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act
I
am signing H.J. Res. 17, a joint resolution that gives the United States
consent to a number of amendments to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act that
were adopted by the State of Hawaii between August 21, 1959, and June 30, 1985.
This consent is necessary because section 4 of the Act to Provide for the Admission
of Hawaii into the Union, Public Law 86 - 3, 73 Stat. 4 (1959), requires that
amendments to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act be approved by the National
Government. I am signing this joint resolution because I believe, as the
Department of the Interior testified when the resolution was pending, that the
matters with which the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act is concerned should be
left entirely to the State of
I
also wish to express another concern. Because the act employs an express racial
classification in providing that certain public lands may be leased only to
persons having ``not less than one-half of the blood of the races inhabiting
the Hawaiian Islands previous to 1778,'' the continued application of the
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, Haw. Rev. Stat. 201 et seq. (1976), raises serious equal protection questions. These
difficulties are exacerbated by the amendment that reduces the native-blood
requirement to one-quarter, thereby casting additional doubt on the original
justification for the classification. While I am signing this resolution
because it substantially defers to the State's judgment, I urge that the
Congress amend section 4 of the Act to Provide for the Admission of Hawaii into
the Union so that in the future the State of Hawaii may amend the Hawaiian
Homes Commission Act without the consent of the United States and give further
consideration to the justification for the troubling racial classification.
Note:
H.J. Res. 17, approved October 27, was assigned Public Law No. 99 - 557.