The proposed Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (H.R. 1913) has been pending in Congress in roughly the same form since the 1990s.¹ It passed the House on April 29, 2009.  No Senate action has occurred yet. President Obama has said that he will sign it.

Some of President Obama’s admirers and detractors have suggested that his election as President and the Democratic majorities in Congress may usher in a new civil rights era. Whether that is so, what policies this new era might usher in, and whether those policies are wise, are all subject to a healthy and exciting debate. Congress has already passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and is considering several more significant bills that concern race and gender–the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act.  More will likely be proposed this session. What effect should policymakers give to the President’s campaign promise to move “beyond race?”  What does the election of Barack Obama and the strong showing of Hillary Clinton mean for race- and gender-conscious measures to ensure equality are not necessary or justified? Do the new majorities in Congress suggest that the American people want such measures to be extended and expanded to new classes of people?  What will the Supreme Court have to say about all this?  Several potentially landmark cases are awaiting decision by the Supreme Court.  The holdings of these cases, and how the political branches respond to them, are yet another hot topic for debate.

H.R. 915, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2009, was introduced in the House by Rep. James Oberstar on February 9, 2009.²  The bill was referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.  On March 5, 2009, the full committee marked up the bill and ordered it reported out of committee, as amended, by voice vote.  Among the changes agreed to by both sides was a package of amendments (i.e., a “manager’s amendment”) introduced by Rep. Oberstar that affect the agency’s airport contracting and concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) programs.³

The bill popularly known as the “Akaka Bill” had been introduced in Congress many times, but until recently it had been stalled under the threat of a veto by President Bush.  Because President Obama has said he will sign it, it has been given new life.   Supporters say the bill simply treats ethnic Hawaiians like other indigenous peoples, helping them to organize into a tribe, and that only racial discrimination prevents them from being recognized as a tribe.  Opponents say that there is no historical basis for analogizing ethnic Hawaiians to continuously-existing Indian tribes, and that the bill is just an unconstitutional attempt to authorize racial preferences.