STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3166

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    GOV. MSG. NO. 351

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations, to which was referred Governor's Message No. 351, submitting for study and consideration the nomination of: 

Language Access Advisory Council

G.M. No. 351

EDELENE O. URIARTE, for a term to expire 6-30-2014,

begs leave to report as follows:

     Your Committee reviewed the personal history, resume, and testimony submitted in support of the nominee and finds the nominee to have the necessary qualifications to be appointed to the Language Access Advisory Council.

     Testimony in support of the nomination of Ms. Uriarte was submitted by the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations; the Office of Language Access, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; and five individuals.  Written testimony presented to your Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Ms. Uriarte, a native of Palau, obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Adventist University of the Philippines, and is working towards her Master of Arts degree in Pacific Island Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.  Her studies and thesis involve academic research on the Pacific region.  For the past three years, Ms. Uriarte has served the Micronesian community as a member of the Micronesian Community Network, an organization of which she has recently been elected president.  In 2007, she coordinated with the Department of Health to deploy a health assessment service to the Micronesian community in Honolulu.  As part of this effort, she conducted over three hundred interviews with Micronesian families living primarily in low-income housing.  In 2008, she co-founded Belau Mei, a resource-based organization that supplies important information to Palauan immigrants traveling to Hawaii in search of education, jobs, opportunities, and health care.

     Ms. Uriarte represents the Micronesian community as the member from the limited English proficient population who has an interest in the provision of oral language services.  Ms. Uriarte is fluent in the Palauan and Tagalog languages and is eager to serve the limited English proficient community.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee, after full consideration of the background, experience, and qualifications of the nominee, has found the nominee to be qualified for the position to which nominated and recommends that the Senate advise and consent to the nomination.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair