WASHINGTON — A bill extending a federal policy of self-governance and self-determination to Native Hawaiians will be discussed at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing May 3, setting up a new struggle to push it through Congress.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawai'i, said Wednesday he was "extremely pleased" the committee set a hearing.

"I remain optimistic about finally providing the parity between Native Hawaiians and our country's other indigenous peoples that is long overdue," said Akaka, who has battled for seven years to gain Senate approval of the bill.

The so-called Akaka bill would create a process for the federal government to recognize a Native Hawaiian government.

Supporters say it would give Native Hawaiians a political status similar to that exercised by Native American and Alaskan Native tribes. The new government would be able to negotiate with the United States and Hawai'i over disposition of Native Hawaiian land and other resources.

Martha Ross, bureau chief for the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs in Washington, said the agency was hoping that the bill would pass this year.

"Everybody is just very, very pleased that we are moving forward," she said. "We are optimistic."

Over the years, Senate Republicans have blocked the bill, arguing that it would set up an unconstitutional race-based government. Last year, they blocked a bipartisan effort to force a final debate and vote on the bill with a 56-41 vote, short of the 60 votes needed.

But the bill's supporters may have a better chance of getting it through the Senate this year, where Democrats and allied independents have a 51-49 majority.

"The new Congress presents a new opportunity for passage of the Akaka bill," said Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, a co-sponsor. "I am confident that this important legislation will eventually receive congressional approval."

But first, the bill must again clear the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, D-N.D., also a co-sponsor.

Both Akaka and Inouye serve on the 15-member committee, as do three co-sponsors — Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

Although no witnesses have been officially announced for the hearing, H. William Burgess, a spokesman for the nonprofit group Aloha For All, which opposes the bill, said he has accepted an invitation to testify.

"It's kind of a landmark ... because no opponents of the Akaka bill to my knowledge have ever been invited to testify before," Burgess said.

He said he opposes the bill because it would give people who have an ancestor who is indigenous to Hawai'i the right to form their own separate sovereign government and negotiate the breakup of the state and the giveaway of lands, resources and governmental authority.

"It would undo the whole idea in the United States that every person is entitled to equal protection of the laws," he said.

The current bill is the same as the one revised last year to answer some of the concerns raised by the Justice Department. Those revisions preclude Hawaiians from bringing land claims against the U.S. and prohibit gambling, which has been a source of wealth for some Indian tribes.

Despite the changes, the Justice Department announced in June that the administration "strongly opposes" the bill, raising the possibility of a presidential veto even if it passes the Senate and the House, where Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Mazie Hirono, both Hawai'i Democrats, have introduced identical legislation.

Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.