The Economic Impact of the Akaka Bill

The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2007, S.310 and H.R..505 in the 110th Congress, also known as the Akaka Bill, after sponsor Senator Daniel Akaka, proposes to creates a sovereign Native Hawaiian Governing Entity (NHGE) within the state of Hawaii. While the terms of the bill are vague, the most likely effect would be to vest this new Native Hawaiian government with the right to land now owned by the state, to the detriment of non-Native Hawaiian taxpayers and, correspondingly, the state economy.

In this report, the Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research at Suffolk University (BHI), working collaboratively with the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, identifies the most likely effects of the Akaka Bill on the Hawaiian economy. By almost any plausible interpretation of the bill, these effects are uniformly significant and negative.