Akaka Bill S.1011

Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law discusses S. 1011, the current U.S. Senate version of the Akaka Bill in a series of videos. Three short video clips below explore the following:
- Background of bill
- Initial Membership (qualified Native Hawaiian constituent)
- Inherent authority
- Negotiations, claims, sovereign immunity

The Senate version of the Akaka Bill is noticeably different from the U.S. House version. Do you know what the differences are? You can watch the videos below and we encourage you to CLICK HERE to read a printer-friendly summary of the new changes to the Akaka Bill.

Background of bill


Initial Membership


Inherent authority and negotiations, claims, sovereign immunity

2010 LSAT Prep Class Update We’re waiting for confirmation on funding for our next round of Law School Admission Test (LSAT) preparation classes.

We’re waiting for confirmation on funding for our next round of Law School Admission Test (LSAT) preparation classes.

Ideally, we’ll be able to start an LSAT prep class somewhere between mid-February and March. This class will meet weekly in preparation for the June 7, 2010 LSAT. Again, this is determined on the availability of funding. More details will be shared as it is available.

Until then, anyone interested in participating in our LSAT Preparation class should download an application as well as subscribe to our e-mail list by going to www.bit.ly/LSATinfo The application due date is February 10, 2010. This means that the application should be received by our office on February 10.

Summarizing the Akaka Bill.

In recent weeks there have been several updates regarding the status of the Akaka Bill, referred to as S. 1011 and H.R. 2314 in the U.S. Senate and House of Representative respectively.

Previously, the Bush administration and its Department of Justice did not support any version of the Akaka Bill. Now, with support from both the White House and the Department of Justice as well as the Department of Interior, the Hawaii Congressional delegation worked closely with the the parties to address concerns about the bill and to make the necessary amendments.

Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law has summarized some of the changes made to the recent Akaka Bill. The summary describes some of the differences between the amended version approved recently in a U.S. Senate committee and an un-amended version passed by a U.S. House committee.

CLICK HERE to read the summary.

Ka Huli Ao Digital Archives - Revolutionizing archived information

Keith Johnston, a 2008 graduate of the William S. Richardson School of Law, has been leading the charge in developing Ka Huli Aoʻs digital archives project. Keith is the Post-Juris Doctor Archives Fellow. Click here to read Keithʻs Ka Huli Ao profile.

At a recent staff meeting, Keith Johnston and his assistant Raymond Wang unveiled the current status of the Ka Huli Ao digital archives database. Raymond has been essential to this project working countless hours to help move this project along.

Now, you can catch a glimpse of what will be available in the future to help with archived research. You can click on the images to enlarge.

Below is a screen shot of what the home page of the online digital archive currently looks like.


The screen shot below shows a search attempt to find the session laws of 1853.



This next screen shot shows the results of the search terms 1853 and session laws.


This digital archives projects has some other great features as well. When you click on "BROWSE," youʻre taken to a menu of the Archives Collection which includes categories from the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi era through the State of Hawaiʻi.


For this next screen shot I clicked on Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, then I clicked on another link that took me to another category (Legislature). Then I was taken to what you see below, which allows me to see digitally archived documents of the Hawaiian Kingdomʻs Legislative Council, House of Nobles, House of Representatives, and the Legislative Assembly.



Looking at the part of the database that provides me access on documents from the House of Nobles, I clicked on "Translation of the Journal of the House of Nobles..." Which took me to that translated document.


The feature that I really like can be found by looking at the bottom left corner of the above image, where it reads, "Image Navigator." Iʻll explain further.

Keep in mind that Hawaiian Kingdom era documents are not electronic documents, but rather paper documents with no electronic versions from the same era. Scanning those documents only produces images or pictures of those documents. Unlike a word processing document, you cannot do a search for any particular word within that image. Keith and Ray employed the optical character recognition process (OCR) to turn these scanned images into word search-able documents. The OCRʻd version of an image is what weʻre seeing above. Now, sometimes, the OCR process may produce a few typos. As a researcher, you may wonder about the accuracy of the document youʻre now looking at. Keith and Ray address this issue by providing access to the actual image or picture. So, looking at the image above, in particular the "Image Navigator" part, I clicked on the corresponding page number, "3" to access the image.

As a result, you can see below that I got full access to the actual translated document page before it went through the OCR process.


Weʻre excited about this development that will revolutionize state archive research. Weʻll post future updates here. If you would like to be added to our newsletter e-mail list, please send us a request at nhlawctr@hawaii.edu

Importance & Vulnerability of Palila and Mamane as cultural resources

Check out our latest podcast featuring third-year law student Kauʻi Yamane. In this podcast, Kauʻi discusses the importance of the Palila (Hawaiian honeycreeper) and Mamane (a native plant) as cultural resources. In her podcast, Kauʻi talks about:

• the philosophy and importance of the Palila and Mamane to cultural resources,
• recovery plans, and
• current management efforts,
.

We hope you will share your thoughts.

Traditional and customary Native Hawaiian rights - a podcast

Check out our latest podcast below by third-year law student Trisha Nishimoto. In this podcast, Ms. Nishimoto analyzes, "whether Hawaii law will permit native Hawaiian access and gathering rights to extend to the hunting of animals, such as goat and pigs, on private property." In this podcast, Trisha reviews relevant state statutes and case law. Also in the podcast, Nishimoto briefly discusses "the complicated and unanswered question of whether otherwise valid, traditional, and customary native Hawaiian rights become invalid because its method is modernized."

Feel free to share your thoughts below.

Celebrate Makahiki and Support Ka Huli Ao.

November 23, 2009

Aloha kakou!

Each year since time immemorial, Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) await the arrival of Nā Huihui o Makali‘i, the constellation of stars also known as the Pleiades or the seven little sisters. When Makali‘i rises at sunset, it is most visible in the night sky. For Kanaka Maoli, this signifies the beginning of the Makahiki, a traditional celebration of the harvest and a time of personal rest and spiritual renewal. Makali‘i usually appears around November when the sun turns to the North, which brings warmth to the earth and supports the growth of plants and the spawning of fish. As the harvest is gathered, gifts are traditionally given as an expression of thanksgiving.

In celebration of Makahiki, the staff at Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, at the William S. Richardson School of Law, gives thanks for the many blessings reaped in 2009. With your support, we have much to celebrate, including:

* Expanded program offerings, which served over 2,000 students and community members this year alone through classes, clinics, lectures, presentations, publications, and other outreach efforts.

* Five more law school graduates in May 2009, with a Pacific Asian Legal Studies Certificate Specialty in Native Hawaiian Law.

* A newly approved stand alone Certificate in Native Hawaiian Law, which will be available to law students graduating in May 2010.

* A partnership with Kamehameha Schools supporting four Post-Juris Doctorate Research Fellows each year for three years to enable scholarship, research, teaching and other related projects in Native Hawaiian law.

* The first University funded tenure track position dedicated to Ka Huli Ao!

Although we have much to be proud of, more work still needs to be done. To help with these and other Ka Huli Ao initiatives, you can make a tax deductible donation at: www.uhf.hawaii.edu/kahuliao. With your support, we look forward to continuing to draw the best from Maoli tradition in pursuit of scholarship, enlightenment, and justice for Kanaka Maoli and all of Hawai‘i’s people.

To show our appreciation for contributions of $150 or more, we will send you a 27 oz. Ka Huli Ao stainless steel water bottle. The bottle will be sent to the address you provide on the online gift form. If you would like it sent elsewhere, please note that in the comment section.

To mail your donation, please make checks payable to the “University of Hawai‘i Foundation” and indicate “Ka Huli Ao” on the memo line. Send your check to:

William S. Richardson School of Law
Attn: Ka Huli Ao
2515 Dole Street
Honolulu, HI 96822


Mahalo piha,

Melody Kapilialoha MacKenzie
Assistant Professor & Director

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