Home > 106th Congressional Bills > S. 225 (rs) To provide Federal housing assistance to Native Hawaiians. [Reported in Senate] ...S. 225 (rs) To provide Federal housing assistance to Native Hawaiians. [Reported in Senate] ...
106th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 225
[Report No. 106-192]
To provide Federal housing assistance to Native Hawaiians.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 19, 1999
Mr. Inouye (for himself and Mr. Akaka) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs
October 14, 1999
Reported by Mr. Campbell, with an amendment
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed
in italic]
October 27, 1999
Referred sequentially to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs, and if the bill is not reported by that Committee by November
2, 1999, the Committee be discharged from further consideration
thereof, and the bill be placed on the calendar, by unanimous consent
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide Federal housing assistance to Native Hawaiians.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>
<DELETED> This Act may be cited as the ``Native American Housing
Assistance and Self-Determination Amendments of 1999''.</DELETED>
<DELETED>SEC. 2. FINDINGS.</DELETED>
<DELETED> Congress finds that--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (1) the United States has undertaken a
responsibility to promote the general welfare of the United
States by--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) employing its resources to remedy the
unsafe and unsanitary housing conditions and the acute
shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings for
families of lower income; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) developing effective partnerships with
governmental and private entities to accomplish the
objectives referred to in subparagraph (A);</DELETED>
<DELETED> (2) pursuant to the provisions of the Hawaiian
Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.), the United
States set aside 200,000 acres of land in the Federal territory
that later became the State of Hawaii in order to establish a
homeland for the native people of Hawaii--Native
Hawaiians;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (3) despite the intent of Congress in 1920 to
address the housing needs of Native Hawaiians through the
enactment of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat.
108 et seq.), some agencies of the Federal Government have
taken the legal position that subsequently enacted Federal
housing laws designed to address the housing needs of all
eligible families in the United States could not be extended to
address the needs for housing and infrastructure development on
Hawaiian home lands (as that term is defined in section 801 of
the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination
Act of 1996, as added by section 3 of this Act) with the result
that otherwise eligible Native Hawaiians residing on the
Hawaiian home lands have been foreclosed from participating in
Federal housing assistance programs available to all other
eligible families in the United States;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (4) although Federal housing assistance programs
have been administered on a racially neutral basis in the State
of Hawaii, Native Hawaiians continue to have the greatest unmet
need for housing and the highest rates of overcrowding in the
United States;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (5) among the Native American population of the
United States, Native Hawaiians experience the highest
percentage of housing problems in the United States, as the
percentage--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) of housing problems in the Native
Hawaiian population is 49 percent, as compared to--
</DELETED>
<DELETED> (i) 44 percent for American Indian
and Alaska Native households in Indian country;
and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ii) 27 percent for all other
households in the United States; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) overcrowding in the Native Hawaiian
population is 36 percent as compared to 3 percent for
all other households in the United States;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (6) among the Native Hawaiian population, the
needs of Native Hawaiians, as that term is defined in section
801 of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-
Determination Act of 1996, as added by section 3 of this Act,
eligible to reside on the Hawaiian Home Lands are the most
severe, as--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) the percentage of overcrowding in
Native Hawaiian households on the Hawaiian Home Lands
is 36 percent; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) approximately 13,000 Native Hawaiians,
which constitute 95 percent of the Native Hawaiians who
are eligible to reside on the Hawaiian Home Lands, are
in need of housing;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (7) applying the Department of Housing and Urban
Development guidelines--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) 70.8 percent of Native Hawaiians who
either reside or who are eligible to reside on the
Hawaiian Home Lands have incomes that fall below the
median family income; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) 50 percent of Native Hawaiians who
either reside or who are eligible to reside on the
Hawaiian Home Lands have incomes below 30 percent of
the median family income; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (8) </DELETED>\<DELETED>1/3</DELETED>\ <DELETED>of
those Native Hawaiians who are eligible to reside on the
Hawaiian Home Lands pay more than 30 percent of their income
for shelter, and </DELETED>\<DELETED>1/2</DELETED>\ <DELETED>of
those Native Hawaiians face overcrowding;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (9) the extraordinarily severe housing needs of
Native Hawaiians demonstrate that Native Hawaiians who either
reside on, or are eligible to reside on, Hawaiian Home Lands
have been denied equal access to Federal low-income housing
assistance programs available to other qualified residents of
the United States, and that a more effective means of
addressing their housing needs must be authorized;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (10) consistent with the recommendations of the
National Commission on American Indian, Alaska Native, and
Native Hawaiian Housing, and in order to address the continuing
prevalence of extraordinarily severe housing needs among Native
Hawaiians who either reside or are eligible to reside on the
Hawaiian Home Lands, Congress finds it necessary to extend the
Federal low-income housing assistance available to American
Indians and Alaska Natives under the Native American Housing
Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101
et seq.) to those Native Hawaiians;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (11) under the treatymaking power of the United
States, Congress had the authority to confirm a treaty between
the United States and the government that represented the
Hawaiian people under clause 3 of section 8 of article I of the
Constitution, the authority of Congress to address matters
affecting the indigenous peoples of the United States includes
the authority to address matters affecting Native
Hawaiians;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (12) through treaties, Federal statutes, and
rulings of the Federal courts, the United States has recognized
and reaffirmed that--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) the political status of Native
Hawaiians is comparable to that of American Indians and
Alaska Natives; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) the aboriginal, indigenous people of
the United States have--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (i) a continuing right to autonomy
in their internal affairs; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ii) an ongoing right of self-
determination and self-governance that has
never been extinguished;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (13) the political relationship between the United
States and the Native Hawaiian people has been recognized and
reaffirmed by the United States as evidenced by the inclusion
of Native Hawaiians in--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) the Native American Programs Act of
1974 (42 U.S.C. 2291 et seq.);</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) the American Indian Religious Freedom
Act (42 U.S.C. 1996 et seq.);</DELETED>
<DELETED> (C) the National Museum of the American
Indian Act (20 U.S.C. 80q et seq.);</DELETED>
<DELETED> (D) the Native American Graves Protection
and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3001 et
seq.);</DELETED>
<DELETED> (E) the National Historic Preservation Act
(16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.);</DELETED>
<DELETED> (F) the Native American Languages Act of
1992 (106 Stat. 3434);</DELETED>
<DELETED> (G) the American Indian, Alaska Native and
Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Development Act (20
U.S.C. 4401 et seq.);</DELETED>
<DELETED> (H) the Job Training Partnership Act (29
U.S.C. 1501 et seq.); and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (I) the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42
U.S.C. 3001 et seq.); and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (14) in the area of housing, the United States has
recognized and reaffirmed the political relationship with the
Native Hawaiian people through--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (A) the enactment of the Hawaiian Homes
Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.), which set
aside approximately 200,000 acres of public lands that
became known as Hawaiian Home Lands in the Territory of
Hawaii that had been ceded to the United States for
homesteading by Native Hawaiians in order to
rehabilitate a landless and dying people;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (B) the enactment of the Act entitled ``An
Act to provide for the admission of the State of Hawaii
into the Union'', approved March 18, 1959 (73 Stat.
4)--</DELETED>
<DELETED> (i) by ceding to the State of
Hawaii title to the public lands formerly held
by the United States, and mandating that those
lands be held in public trust, for the
betterment of the conditions of Native
Hawaiians, as that term is defined in section
801(15) of the Native American Housing
Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996,
as added by section 3 of this Act;
and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (ii) by transferring what the
United States considered to be a trust
responsibility for the administration of
Hawaiian Home Lands to the State of Hawaii, but
retaining the authority to enforce the trust,
including the exclusive right of the United
States to consent to any actions affecting the
lands which comprise the corpus of the trust
and any amendments to the Hawaiian Homes
Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.),
enacted by the legislature of the State of
Hawaii affecting the rights of beneficiaries
under the Act;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (C) the authorization of mortgage loans
insured by the Federal Housing Administration for the
purchase, construction, or refinancing of homes on
Hawaiian Home Lands under the Act of June 27, 1934
(commonly referred to as the ``National Housing Act''
(42 Stat. 1246 et seq., chapter 847; 12 U.S.C. 1701 et
seq.));</DELETED>
<DELETED> (D) authorizing Native Hawaiian
representation on the National Commission on American
Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Housing
under Public Law 101-235;</DELETED>
<DELETED> (E) the inclusion of Native Hawaiians in
the definition under section 3764 of title 38, United
States Code, applicable to subchapter V of chapter 37
of title 38, United States Code (relating to a housing
loan program for Native American veterans);
and</DELETED>
<DELETED> (F) the enactment of the Hawaiian Home
Lands Recovery Act (109 Stat. 357; 48 U.S.C. 491, note
prec.) which establishes a process for the conveyance
of Federal lands to the Department of Hawaiian Homes
Lands that are equivalent in value to lands acquired by
the United States from the Hawaiian Home Lands
inventory.</DELETED>
<DELETED>SEC. 3. HOUSING ASSISTANCE.</DELETED>
<DELETED> The Native American Housing Assistance and Self-
Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.) is amended by adding
at the end the following:</DELETED>
<DELETED>``TITLE VIII--HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR NATIVE
HAWAIIANS</DELETED>
<DELETED>``SEC. 801. DEFINITIONS.</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``In this title:</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(1) Department of hawaiian home lands;
department.--The term `Department of Hawaiian Home Lands' or
`Department' means the agency or department of the government
of the State of Hawaii that is responsible for the
administration of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42
Stat. 108 et seq.).</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(2) Director.--The term `Director' means the
Director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(3) Elderly families; near-elderly families.--
</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(A) In general.--The term `elderly
family' or `near-elderly family' means a family whose
head (or his or her spouse), or whose sole member, is--
</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(i) for an elderly family, an
elderly person; or</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(ii) for a near-elderly family,
a near-elderly person.</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(B) Certain families included.--The term
`elderly family' or `near-elderly family' includes--
</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(i) 2 or more elderly persons or
near-elderly persons, as the case may be,
living together; and</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(ii) 1 or more persons described
in clause (i) living with 1 or more persons
determined under the housing plan to be
essential to their care or well-
being.</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(4) Hawaiian home lands.--The term `Hawaiian
Home Lands' means lands that--</DELETED>
<DELETED> ``(A) have the status as Hawaiian home
lands under section 204 of the Hawaiian Homes
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