STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3265

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.R. No. 18

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.R. No. 18 entitled:

 

"SENATE RESOLUTION URGING THE USE OR INCORPORATION OF THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE INTO THE VOCABULARY USED TO IDENTIFY LOCAL FLORA AND FAUNA AND INTO SAFETY WARNINGS AND ENCOURAGING THE IMPROVED PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS IN THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Urge state offices, including state educational entities and recreational facilities, and the local media, private schools, the tourism industry and other businesses, and the general public to use Hawaiian names as the sole common names of local flora and fauna;

 

     (2)  Encourage government employees to pronounce the names of local flora and fauna properly in the Hawaiian language;

 

     (3)  Encourage the proper spelling of Hawaiian names of local flora and fauna to include the okina and kahakō, where appropriate; and

 

     (4)  Urge that more effort is put toward researching Hawaiian terms that have been lost or are needed to describe recently discovered or introduced flora and fauna.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, and two individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Hawaiian language is the native language of the State and despite this, the Hawaiian language is beginning to lose its prominence throughout the State.  Your Committee further finds that more effort should be put toward sustaining the Hawaiian language, given the importance it holds for many residents in Hawaii.  Your Committee recognizes that local flora and fauna have had a tradition of being called by their native Hawaiian names, such as "pōhuehue", however this practice is increasingly declining and the English name is being used instead.  Your Committee believes that the Hawaiian language should be properly utilized more frequently, especially in state government, which can lead by example.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 18, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 18, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Hawaiian Affairs,

 

 

 

________________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair