From NPR, on the Akaka bill:

Senator DANIEL AKAKA (Democrat, Hawaii): It creates a government-to-government relationship with the United States.
KASTE: Democratic Senator Dan Akaka, himself a native, wants Congress to let Hawaiians re-establish their national identity. He says his bill would give them a kind of legal parity with tribal governments on the mainland, but he says this sovereignty could eventually go further, perhaps even leading to outright independence.
Sen. AKAKA: That could be. As far as what’s going to happen at the other end, I’m leaving it up to my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.