STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2703

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2162

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2162, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate general funds to establish Hawaiian language resources for the Judiciary.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Judiciary, the University of Hawaii System, the

University of Hawaii at Manoa Department of Native Hawaiian Health, Kamehameha Schools, the Institute of Hawaiian Language Research and Translation, and thirteen individuals.

     Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Center for Hawaiian Sovereignty Studies and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that the Judiciary Hawaiian Language Web Feasibility Task Force proposed an ideal plan to establish Hawaiian language resources in the Judiciary by translating versions of various Judiciary webpages, establishing education programs, and adding positions for Judiciary resource staff.  Your Committee further finds that while the number of Hawaiian language speakers has increased over the past few decades, few individuals have Hawaiian language expertise in the fields of governance, law, business, and health due, in part, to the lack of demand for these positions.  Your Committee finds that funding the ideal plan proposed by the task force will help revitalize the Hawaiian language by providing opportunities for the native Hawaiian language to be used in a professional environment.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the amount appropriated from $500,000 to an unspecified amount; and

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2076, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2162, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2162, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair