STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2482

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2161

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2161 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the exterior of the envelope containing the ballot package to include instructions on how to obtain language translation services in Hawaiian and certain languages other than English.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Elections, Office of Language Access, City and County of Honolulu Elections Division, Hawai‘i Friends of Civil Rights, Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Common Cause Hawaii, Hawai‘i Public Health Institute, and four individuals.

Your Committee finds that non-English speaking voters should be adequately apprised of language translation services including when voting by mail. During the 2020 elections, voters on Oahu were provided notice on the outside of the back of the mailed ballot package that language translation services were available at the city clerk's office. This notice was provided in two languages, Ilocano and Chinese. Non-English speaking voters who spoke another language or who lived in one of the other counties were not provided with this information. This measure will provide notice of language translation services to other non-English speaking voters so that they may actively participate in voting.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that nothing in the measure exempts or supplants the requirements of section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act;

(2) Clarifying that the measure shall apply beginning with the 2024 primary election; and

(3) 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 Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2161, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2161, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair