STAND. COM. REP. NO. 104

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 266

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 266 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF LANGUAGE ACCESS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Appropriate funds to further develop the language access resource center and multilingual website pilot project; and

 

     (2)  Authorize the hiring of necessary personnel to staff the resource center and administer the multilingual website.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Language Access, Hawaii Interpreter Action Network, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that according to the United States Census Bureau, American Community Survey of 2009-2011, twenty-four percent of Hawaii's population speak a language other than English at home.  This includes nearly 281,607 persons who speak an Asian or Pacific Island language.  According to the same studies, out of those who speak a language other than English at home, forty-six percent are limited English proficient.

 

     Your Committee therefore recognizes that English is not the primary language for a significant portion of Hawaii's residents.  These people have only a limited ability to read, write, speak, or understand English.  Language barriers often prohibit many residents from fully participating in the community.  Despite personal, family, community, and government efforts to make those with limited English proficiency more self-sufficient and productive, these efforts are often undermined by lack of access to essential government and government-funded services due to the language restrictions of Hawaii's limited English proficient population.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 266 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

 

 

 

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair