Report Title:

Language Access for Limited English Speakers

WHEREAS, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin by any entity that received federal financial assistance; and

WHEREAS, under Title VI, states and other entities that receive financial assistance are required to provide meaningful access to services, programs, and activities for persons with limited English proficiency; and

WHEREAS, meaningful access includes at a minimum, timely access to trained and competent interpreters, translation of application forms, notices, and letters in a language understood by a person of limited English proficiency, and notice to persons of limited English proficiency in a language they can understand, of the right to free language assistance; and

WHEREAS, many of Hawaii's state departments receive federal funds that are applied to an array of services and in order to assure that persons of limited English proficiency have full access to these programs and to assure compliance with the law, some departments will require additional funding to develop and implement systems by which persons of limited English proficiency can meaningfully access services consistent with the mission of the department; and

WHEREAS, due to the lack of bilingual access many persons of limited English proficiency are excluded from state services, experience delays or denials of service, or receive care and services based on inaccurate or incomplete information; and

WHEREAS, the Departments of Health and Human Services are the most frequently accessed state departments affecting the persons needing bilingual services; and

WHEREAS, it is important to start immediately to find ways to enhance the ability of the Departments of Health and Human Services to provide services, programs, and activities to persons of limited English proficiency; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, that this body requests the Departments of Health and Human Services to recommend policy elements needed to implement a system whereby persons with limited English proficiency can access government services, activities, and programs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that these departments are requested to report policies adopted that would enable persons of limited English proficiency to access services consistent with the missions of the respective departments and to report these policies to the Legislature twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2002; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Directors of Health and Human Services.