STAND. COM. REP. NO. 192-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2622

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Public Safety, to which was referred H.B. No. 2622 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to meet the language access needs of residents with limited English proficiency and expand access to bilingual resources and services.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency and State Health Planning and Development Agency. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaiʻi Civil Rights Commission.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii is home to a significant foreign-born population--approximately 260,000 individuals, composing 18 percent of the State's population--and many of these residents speak languages other than English at home. This measure strives to ensure that the language-access needs of limited English proficient residents are met, especially during an emergency, when accurate and timely communication is vital.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing its effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider the appropriate appropriation amount.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2622, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2622, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety,

____________________________

DELLA AU BELATTI, Chair