STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1620

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2011

RE:   H.R. No. 115

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred H.R. No. 115 entitled:

"HOUSE RESOLUTION URGING THE REDUCTION OF VOTING MAJORITY OF THE STATE REHABILITATION COUNCIL ON KAUAI TO TEN, TO ALLOW FOR QUORUM AT COUNCIL MEETINGS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this resolution is to urge the reduction of voting majority of the State Rehabilitation Council on Kauai to allow for quorum. Although the State Rehabilitation Council on Kauai consists of 21 members, voting majority shall be reduced to 10. 

     For purposes of the public hearing on this resolution, your Committee circulated a proposed H.D. 1 and notified the public that your Committee would be accepting testimony on the proposed H.D. 1 only. The proposed H.D. 1 amended the original draft of this measure, as received by your Committee, by:

     (1) Deleting the contents of H.R. 115 and inserting in its

place provisions that:

(A) The "N" word should be eliminated from the vocabulary of all people of the State of Hawaii. 

(B) The "N" word is ranked as "the most offense and inflammatory racial slur in English" by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The first documented written use of the "N" word was by slave masters referring to their African slaves.

(C) Today, the use of the "N" word in the entertainment business through music, film, and print is undercutting the hard-won progress made by men and women who wants to ensure a better life for the generations of African Americans who followed them. 

Upon further consideration, your Committee has chosen not to adopt the proposed draft and, instead amended the resolution by replacing its contents with provisions that:

(1) All people of the State of Hawaii are urged to continue in following the "Aloha Spirit."

(2) People who are strengthened by humility, love, respect, and kindness to one another are representation of the "Spirit of Aloha." It is the essence of relationships in which each person is important to every other person for collective existence. 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 115, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 115, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

____________________________

JOHN M. MIZUNO, Chair