Report Title:

Bilingual Citizenship Project

 

Description:

Appropriates funds for bilingual education classes, conducting bilingual outreach programs on the benefits of naturalization, and preparing eligible immigrants for the naturalization exam.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

 367

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR a BILINGUAL CITIZENSHIP project.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. In 1996, Congress approved the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act as the centerpiece of its welfare reform package. A central provision of this new law denies most immigrants the legal right to receive food stamps. The impact of this federal restriction has reverberated through local communities statewide. As an illustration, according to figures compiled by the department of human services, in the year since the welfare reform legislation went into effect, a total of 8,047 individuals have lost their eligibility for food stamps.

This situation has placed a significant segment of the immigrant population, many of whom are elderly, semi-literate, or both, and have limited command of the English language, in a very untenable position. In most cases, in order to regain their eligibility for food stamp assistance, immigrants must first attain U.S. citizenship. But passing the Immigration and Naturalization Service examination can be an extremely daunting task for persons who have not developed the range of skills necessary to do so. Without a viable vehicle for assisting this highly vulnerable group as they go forward in the naturalization process, such terrible plights as hunger and homelessness loom not far ahead.

This dilemma is being felt in all corners of the State. Large clusters of legal permanent residents have resided in Hawaii for a sufficient duration to apply for citizenship, but have been deterred by an array of language and educational barriers. For example, in January of 1997, the Hawaii Tribune Herald reported that fifty-one per cent of all immigrants residing in the area between Hamakua and Puna on the Big Island are unable to read or write. In West Hawaii, another area of high need stretches from Waimea to Kohala to Kailua and Captain Cook. This section is highly populated with Hispanic restaurant, farm, and hotel workers who gained permanent residency through amnesty and are now eligible for citizenship, but are stymied by their low levels of education. On Oahu, where eighty per cent of state residents live, large groups of immigrants live in the Kalihi-Palama-Chinatown area while others reside in Palolo, Kaimuki, Waipahu, and Ewa. A well-coordinated effort, spearheaded by the department of labor and indiustrial relations' office of community services, applied all across the State, and aimed at attacking the obstacles preventing this most at-risk segment of the immigrant population from achieving the fruits of citizenship, is what will be required to resolve this problem.

The target population for this bilingual citizenship project is the six hundred immigrants eligible for naturalization-citizenship applications throughout the State, especially on the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai. Priority will be given to those who have lost their much needed federal assistance such as food stamps and Medicaid, are low-income, and are limited or non-English speaking. Languages spoken by the target group will include, but are not limited to, Tagalog, Ilocano, Chinese, Vietnamese, Samoan, Korean, Laotian, Marshallese, and Japanese.

The underlying aim of the Bilingual Citizenship Project will be to assist a total of six hundred immigrants of diverse ethnic and language backgrounds in their effort to become naturalized citizens.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $100,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002, for bilingual citizenship project.

SECTION 3. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of labor and industrial relations for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.

INTRODUCED BY:

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