HR 505 PCS 
(B) the public trust consists of lands, including 
submerged lands, natural resources, and the reve-
nues derived from the lands; and 
(C) the assets of this public trust have never 
been completely inventoried or segregated; 
(9) Native Hawaiians have continuously sought 
access to the ceded lands in order to establish and 
maintain native settlements and distinct native com-
munities throughout the State; 
(10) the Hawaiian Home Lands and other 
ceded lands provide an important foundation for the 
ability of the Native Hawaiian community to main-
tain the practice of Native Hawaiian culture, lan-
guage, and traditions, and for the survival and eco-
nomic self-sufficiency of the Native Hawaiian people; 
(11) Native Hawaiians continue to maintain 
other distinctly native areas in Hawaii; 
(12) on November 23, 1993, Public Law 103– 
150 (107 Stat. 1510) (commonly known as the 
‘‘Apology Resolution’’) was enacted into law, extend-
ing an apology on behalf of the United States to the 
native people of Hawaii for the United States’ role 
in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii; 
(13) the Apology Resolution acknowledges that 
the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred 
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with the active participation of agents and citizens 
of the United States and further acknowledges that 
the Native Hawaiian people never directly relin-
quished to the United States their claims to their in-
herent sovereignty as a people over their national 
lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or 
through a plebiscite or referendum; 
(14) the Apology Resolution expresses the com-
mitment of Congress and the President— 
(A) to acknowledge the ramifications of the 
overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii; 
(B) to support reconciliation efforts be-
tween the United States and Native Hawaiians; 
and 
(C) to consult with Native Hawaiians on 
the reconciliation process as called for in the 
Apology Resolution; 
(15) despite the overthrow of the government of 
the Kingdom of Hawaii, Native Hawaiians have con-
tinued to maintain their separate identity as a single 
distinct native community through cultural, social, 
and political institutions, and to give expression to 
their rights as native people to self-determination, 
self-governance, and economic self-sufficiency; 
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(16) Native Hawaiians have also given expres-
sion to their rights as native people to self-deter-
mination, self-governance, and economic self-suffi-
ciency— 
(A) through the provision of governmental 
services to Native Hawaiians, including the pro-
vision of— 
(i) health care services; 
(ii) educational programs; 
(iii) employment and training pro-
grams; 
(iv) economic development assistance 
programs; 
(v) children’s services; 
(vi) conservation programs; 
(vii) fish and wildlife protection; 
(viii) agricultural programs; 
(ix) native language immersion pro-
grams; 
(x) native language immersion schools 
from kindergarten through high school; 
(xi) college and master’s degree pro-
grams in native language immersion in-
struction; and 
(xii) traditional justice programs; and 
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(B) by continuing their efforts to enhance 
Native Hawaiian self-determination and local 
control; 
(17) Native Hawaiians are actively engaged in 
Native Hawaiian cultural practices, traditional agri-
cultural methods, fishing and subsistence practices, 
maintenance of cultural use areas and sacred sites, 
protection of burial sites, and the exercise of their 
traditional rights to gather medicinal plants and 
herbs, and food sources; 
(18) the Native Hawaiian people wish to pre-
serve, develop, and transmit to future generations of 
Native Hawaiians their lands and Native Hawaiian 
political and cultural identity in accordance with 
their traditions, beliefs, customs and practices, lan-
guage, and social and political institutions, to con-
trol and manage their own lands, including ceded 
lands, and to achieve greater self-determination over 
their own affairs; 
(19) this Act provides a process within the 
framework of Federal law for the Native Hawaiian 
people to exercise their inherent rights as a distinct, 
indigenous, native community to reorganize a single 
Native Hawaiian governing entity for the purpose of 
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giving expression to their rights as native people to 
self-determination and self-governance; 
(20) Congress— 
(A) has declared that the United States 
has a special political and legal relationship for 
the welfare of the native peoples of the United 
States, including Native Hawaiians; 
(B) has identified Native Hawaiians as a 
distinct group of indigenous, native people of 
the United States within the scope of its au-
thority under the Constitution, and has enacted 
scores of statutes on their behalf; and 
(C) has delegated broad authority to the 
State of Hawaii to administer some of the 
United States’ responsibilities as they relate to 
the Native Hawaiian people and their lands; 
(21) the United States has recognized and re-
affirmed the special political and legal relationship 
with the Native Hawaiian people through the enact-
ment of the Act entitled, ‘‘An Act to provide for the 
admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union’’, 
approved March 18, 1959 (Public Law 86–3; 73 
Stat. 4), by— 
(A) ceding to the State of Hawaii title to 
the public lands formerly held by the United 
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States, and mandating that those lands be held 
as a public trust for 5 purposes, 1 of which is 
for the betterment of the conditions of Native 
Hawaiians; and 
(B) transferring the United States’ respon-
sibility for the administration of the Hawaiian 
Home Lands to the State of Hawaii, but retain-
ing the exclusive right of the United States to 
consent to any actions affecting the lands in-
cluded in the trust and any amendments to the 
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42 
Stat. 108, chapter 42) that are enacted by the 
legislature of the State of Hawaii affecting the 
beneficiaries under the Act; 
(22) the United States has continually recog-
nized and reaffirmed that— 
(A) Native Hawaiians have a cultural, his-
toric, and land-based link to the aboriginal, in-
digenous, native people who exercised sov-
ereignty over the Hawaiian Islands; 
(B) Native Hawaiians have never relin-
quished their claims to sovereignty or their sov-
ereign lands; 
(C) the United States extends services to 
Native Hawaiians because of their unique sta-
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tus as the indigenous, native people of a once- 
sovereign nation with whom the United States 
has a special political and legal relationship; 
and 
(D) the special relationship of American 
Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians 
to the United States arises out of their status 
as aboriginal, indigenous, native people of the 
United States; and 
(23) the State of Hawaii supports the reaffir-
mation of the special political and legal relationship 
between the Native Hawaiian governing entity and 
the United States as evidenced by 2 unanimous reso-
lutions enacted by the Hawaii State Legislature in 
the 2000 and 2001 sessions of the Legislature and 
by the testimony of the Governor of the State of Ha-
waii before the Committee on Indian Affairs of the 
Senate on February 25, 2003, and March 1, 2005. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) ABORIGINAL, INDIGENOUS, NATIVE
PEO-
PLE.—The term ‘‘aboriginal, indigenous, native peo-
ple’’ means people whom Congress has recognized as 
the original inhabitants of the lands that later be-
came part of the United States and who exercised 
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sovereignty in the areas that later became part of 
the United States. 
(2) ADULT MEMBER.—The term ‘‘adult mem-
ber’’ means a Native Hawaiian who has attained the 
age of 18 and who elects to participate in the reor-
ganization of the Native Hawaiian governing entity. 
(3) APOLOGY RESOLUTION.—The term ‘‘Apol-
ogy Resolution’’ means Public Law 103–150 (107 
Stat. 1510), a Joint Resolution extending an apol-
ogy to Native Hawaiians on behalf of the United 
States for the participation of agents of the United 
States in the January 17, 1893, overthrow of the 
Kingdom of Hawaii. 
(4) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘commission’’ 
means the Commission established under section 
7(b) to provide for the certification that those adult 
members of the Native Hawaiian community listed 
on the roll meet the definition of Native Hawaiian 
set forth in paragraph (10). 
(5) COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘council’’ means the 
Native Hawaiian Interim Governing Council estab-
lished under section 7(c)(2). 
(6) INDIAN PROGRAM OR SERVICE.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Indian pro-
gram or service’’ means any federally funded or 
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authorized program or service provided to an 
Indian tribe (or member of an Indian tribe) be-
cause of the status of the members of the In-
dian tribe as Indians. 
(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘Indian pro-
gram or service’’ includes a program or service 
provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the 
Indian Health Service, or any other Federal 
agency. 
(7) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ 
has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the 
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance 
Act (25 U.S.C. 450b). 
(8) INDIGENOUS, NATIVE PEOPLE.—The term 
‘‘indigenous, native people’’ means the lineal de-
scendants of the aboriginal, indigenous, native peo-
ple of the United States. 
(9) INTERAGENCY COORDINATING GROUP.—The 
term ‘‘Interagency Coordinating Group’’ means the 
Native Hawaiian Interagency Coordinating Group 
established under section 6. 
(10) NATIVE HAWAIIAN.— 
(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), for the purpose of establishing the 
roll authorized under section 7(c)(1) and before 
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the reaffirmation of the special political and 
legal relationship between the United States 
and the Native Hawaiian governing entity, the 
term ‘‘Native Hawaiian’’ means— 
(i) an individual who is 1 of the indig-
enous, native people of Hawaii and who is 
a direct lineal descendant of the aboriginal, 
indigenous, native people who— 
(I) resided in the islands that 
now comprise the State of Hawaii on 
or before January 1, 1893; and 
(II) occupied and exercised sov-
ereignty in the Hawaiian archipelago, 
including the area that now con-
stitutes the State of Hawaii; or 
(ii) an individual who is 1 of the in-
digenous, native people of Hawaii and who 
was eligible in 1921 for the programs au-
thorized by the Hawaiian Homes Commis-
sion Act (42 Stat. 108, chapter 42) or a 
direct lineal descendant of that individual. 
(B) NO
EFFECT
ON
OTHER
DEFINI-
TIONS.—Nothing in this paragraph affects the 
definition of the term ‘‘Native Hawaiian’’ under 
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any other Federal or State law (including a reg-
ulation). 
(11) NATIVE HAWAIIAN GOVERNING ENTITY.— 
The term ‘‘Native Hawaiian Governing Entity’’ 
means the governing entity organized by the Native 
Hawaiian people pursuant to this Act. 
(12) NATIVE
HAWAIIAN
PROGRAM
OR
SERV-
ICE.—The term ‘‘Native Hawaiian program or serv-
ice’’ means any program or service provided to Na-
tive Hawaiians because of their status as Native Ha-
waiians. 
(13) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the 
United States Office for Native Hawaiian Relations 
established by section 5(a). 
(14) 
SECRETARY.—The 
term 
‘‘Secretary’’ 
means the Secretary of the Interior. 
(15) SPECIAL
POLITICAL
AND
LEGAL
RELA-
TIONSHIP.—The term ‘‘special political and legal re-
lationship’’ shall refer, except where differences are 
specifically indicated elsewhere in the Act, to the 
type of and nature of relationship the United States 
has with the several federally recognized Indian 
tribes. 
SEC. 4. UNITED STATES POLICY AND PURPOSE. 
(a) POLICY.—The United States reaffirms that— 
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