STAND. COM. REP. NO. 602

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 58

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 58, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LANGUAGE ACCESS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish and appropriate funds for a statewide language access resource center and a multilingual website pilot project to be administered by the Office of Language Access.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Human Resources Development; the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; the Office of Language Access; Catholic Charities Hawaii; Congress of Visayan Organizations; Hawaii Interpreter Action Network; and a dozen individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.

 

     Your Committee finds that having a pool of qualified interpreters and translators would enable both public and private organizations to provide the necessary language access to their resources and services.  In addition, having information available via website in multiple languages will provide the support needed by newly arrived immigrants and refugees to adjust successfully to life in the community.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Clarifying the mandate to hire bilingual staff;

 

(2)  Adding appropriations for fiscal year 2013-2014;

 

(3)  Changing the appropriations to unspecified amounts;

 

(4)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, in order to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

 

(5)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and 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. 58, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 58, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair