STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2613

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3238

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 3238 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a Language Access Education and Workforce Development Program at the University of Hawaii; and

(2) Appropriate funds.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawaiʻi System, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Office of Language Access, Hawaiʻi Civil Rights Commission, Hawaiʻi Coalition for Immigrant Rights, AlohaCare, Waipahu Safe Haven Immigrant/Migrant Resource Center, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, The Legal Clinic, Pacific Gateway Center, Roots Reborn, and nineteen individuals.

Your Committee finds that the State is experiencing a critical shortage of qualified local translators and interpreters to accommodate its multilingual population. Access to government services, health care, education, legal processes, and emergency response depend on effective and accurate communication. Your Committee further finds that language access is foundational to equity, civil rights compliance, and public trust. This measure strengthens language access statewide by establishing a structured, workforce-focused pathway to train and recognize qualified translators in the State.

Your Committee acknowledges the concerns raised in testimony by the University of Hawaii System that this measure should specify whether the newly established program will be credit-based, non-credit based, or both, to clarify its implementation and accessibility. Therefore, amendments to this measure are necessary to address this matter.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the Language Access Education and Workforce Development Program to include credit-based and non-credit based opportunities; and

(2) 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 Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3238, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3238, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

________________________________

DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair