HR 17: EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS ADMISSIONs POLICY AND URGING THE HAWAII ATTORNEY GENERAL TO SUBMIT AN AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF to DEFENd THE admissions POLICY in any future lawsuit.

HOUSE RESOLUTION

EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS ADMISSIONs POLICY AND URGING THE HAWAII ATTORNEY GENERAL TO SUBMIT AN AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF to DEFENd THE admissions POLICY in any future lawsuit.

     WHEREAS, Princess Bernice Pauahi Paki Bishop, the last royal descendant of the Kamehameha dynasty, established Kamehameha Schools under the terms of her will; and

     WHEREAS, the Princess intended that children of Native Hawaiian ancestry be given a preference for admission to the schools; and

     WHEREAS, the admissions preference for Native Hawaiian students today is a remedial measure rooted in the historical injustices suffered by Native Hawaiians, including the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, the seizure of lands, and the suppression of Hawaiian language and culture, and is intended to bring Native Hawaiian students into educational parity with other ethnic groups in Hawaii; and

     WHEREAS, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Doe v. Kamehameha Schools/Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, 470 F.3d 827 (9th Cir. 2006), upheld the legality of the admissions policy under a three factor test:

     (1)  The policy serves as a response to a manifest imbalance in current educational achievement between Native Hawaiians and other ethnic groups in Hawaii;

     (2)  The policy does not unnecessarily trammel the rights of students with non-Hawaiian ancestry, or create an absolute bar to their advancement; and

     (3)  The policy does no more than is necessary to correct the manifest imbalance suffered by students of Native Hawaiian ancestry; and

     WHEREAS, the recent decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023), which struck down race-conscious admissions policies at federally funded universities, does not apply to Kamehameha Schools, which is entirely privately funded and operates under a separate legal framework; and

     WHEREAS, the current challenge to Kamehameha Schools' admissions policy announced by Students for Fair Admissions, a mainland-based organization with no historical or cultural ties to Hawaii, represents a renewed attempt to undermine the legacy of the Princess; and

     WHEREAS, the Kamehameha Schools admissions policy is not only legal but also morally and culturally essential to the survival and flourishing of Native Hawaiian identity, education, and self-determination; and

     WHEREAS, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and other Native Hawaiian institutions have affirmed that the challenge to the Kamehameha Schools admissions policy is part of a broader pattern of attacks on Native Hawaiian rights and protections; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2026, that this body expresses its support for the Kamehameha Schools admissions policy; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature urges the Attorney General of the State of Hawaii to file in any applicable lawsuit an amicus curiae brief defending the constitutionality and cultural necessity of the Kamehameha Schools admissions policy; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Attorney General, the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Kamehameha Schools.

Report Title: 

Kamehameha Schools; Admissions Policy; Attorney General