STAND. COM. REP. NO.2567

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: S.B. No. 2270

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2270, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds and allocate state and district resource teacher positions to educate public school students about the history and the lessons of the World War II exclusion, removal, and detention of persons of Japanese ancestry.

Your Committee finds that as time goes on, the lessons and facts of the events of World War II fade from our memory. One of the greatest lessons we may lose sight of is the U.S. government's extreme reaction to a group of Americans, who were singled out for persecution merely due to their different historical and cultural roots. While this reaction affected German-Americans and Italian-Americans, the group most affected were Japanese-Americans who were relocated to concentration camps without benefit of due process, and in contravention of their civil rights.

Your Committee finds that the instant measure seeks to enable school children of today to be mindful of the errors of the past, and that the American way of life, while full of the ideals of civil liberty, justice, and fairness for all, came perilously close to being destroyed during World War II. The lessons that will be developed under this measure will serve to educate public school students about the history and the lessons of the World War II exclusion, removal and detention, along with the inclusion, participation, and empowerment of persons of Japanese ancestry.

Your Committee has made technical amendments to the bill in keeping with proper drafting style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2270, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2270, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair