STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2481
Honolulu, Hawaii
President of the Senate
Thirty-First State Legislature
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Human Services and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 2459 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LANGUAGE ACCESS,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to:
(1) Require the executive director of the Office of Language Access to submit an annual report to the Governor and Legislature on compliance, complaints, resolution of complaints, and recommendations to enhance and promote language access; and
(2) Appropriate
an unspecified amount of funds to establish limited English proficiency
language coordinator positions in the Department of Commerce and Consumer
Affairs, Department of Health, Department of Agriculture, and the Hawaii
Emergency Management Agency.
Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Transportation, Department of Agriculture, Office of Community Services, Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Hawaii Friends of Civil Rights, Micronesian Health Advisory Coalition, Ethnic Education Hawai‘i, Marshallese Covid-19 Task Force, Common Cause Hawaii, Le Fetuao Samoan Language Center, The Legal Clinic, Hawai‘i Workers Center, Hawai‘i Public Health Institute, and fourteen individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Department of Budget and Finance, Office of Language Access, Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency, and one individual.
Your Committees find that Hawaii has one of the highest per-capital rates of limited English proficient persons in the nation. Your Committees further find that the annual reporting requirement in this measure will not only assist the Office of Language Access to ensure compliance with state and federal language access laws across all state agencies, but the establishment of permanent limited English proficiency language coordinator positions also will facilitate the implementation and delivery of each state agency's language access plans.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2459 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Government Operations,
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________________________________ SHARON MORIWAKI, Chair |
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________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair |
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