Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 108 Part 5.djvu/306

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108 STAT. 3796 PUBLIC LAW 103-382—OCT. 20, 1994 people by retaining the legal responsibility to enforce the public trust responsibility of the State of Hawai'i for the betterment of the conditions of Native Hawaiians, as defined in section 201(a) of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920. "(12) The United States assumed special responsibilities for Native Hawaiian lands and resources at the time of the annexation of the Territory in 1898, upon adoption of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, and upon admission of the State of Hawai'i into the Union in 1959, and has retained certain of those responsibilities. "(13) In recognition of the special relationship which exists between the United States and the Native Hawaiian people, the Congress has extended to Native Hawaiians the same rights and privileges accorded to American Indian, Alaska Native, Eskimo, and Aleut communities under the Native American Programs Act of 1974, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the National Museum of the American Indian Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Native American Languages Act. "(14) In recognition of the special relationship which exists between the United States and the Native Hawaiian people, the Congress has enacted numerous special provisions of law for the benefit of Native Hawaiians in the areas of health, education, labor, and housing. "(15) In 1981, the Senate instructed the Office of Education to suljmit to the Congress a comprehensive report on Native Hawaiian education. The report, entitled the 'Native Hawaiian Educational Assessment Project', was released in 1983 and documented that Native Hawaiians scored below parity with national norms on standardized achievement tests, were disproportionately represented in many negative social and physical statistics, indicative of special educational needs, and had educational needs which were related to their unique cultural situation, such as different learning styles and low self-image. "(16) In recognition of the educational needs of Native Hawaiians, in 1988, the Congress enacted title IV of the Augustus F. Hawkins-Robert T. Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988 to authorize and develop supplemental educational programs to benefit Native Hawaiians. "(17) In 1993, the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate released a ten-year update of the Native Hawaiian Educational Assessment Project, which found that despite the successes of the programs established under title IV of the Augustus F. Hawkins-Robert T. Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988, many of the same educational needs still exist for Native Hawaiians. For example- "(A) educational risk factors continue to start even before birth for many Native Hawaiian children, including— "(i) late or no prenatal care; "(ii) half of Native Hawaiian women who give birth are unmarried; and "(iii) high rates of births to teenage parents;