Bill Text: HI HCR312 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Government Records; Access by Blind and Visually Impaired
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-30 - (H) The committees on JUD recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 14 Ayes: Karamatsu, Ito, Belatti, Cabanilla, Herkes, McKelvey, Mizuno, Morita, B. Oshiro, Souki, Tsuji, Wakai, Marumoto, Thielen; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Carroll, Luke. [HCR312 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-HCR312-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.C.R. NO. |
312 |
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TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
requesting all branches of state government and all agencies of county governments to make government records available in digitized form readable by software and hardware for the blind and VISUALLY impaired and to provide public employees and the public with the software and hardware necessary to digitize and read PUBLIC records.
WHEREAS, the Legislature declared in section 92F-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that "In a democracy, the people are vested with the ultimate decision-making power. Government agencies exist to aid the people in the formation and conduct of public policy. Opening up the government processes to public scrutiny and participation is the only viable and reasonable method of protecting the public's interest."; and
WHEREAS, the Legislature also declared in section 92F-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that "it is the policy of this State that the formation and conduct of public policy--the discussions, deliberations, decisions, and action of government agencies--shall be conducted as openly as possible."; and
WHEREAS, the use of interactive display terminals by state and county agencies is becoming a widespread means of access for employees and the public to obtain information available electronically, but that presentation of electronic data solely in a visual format is a barrier to access by individuals who are blind or visually impaired; and
WHEREAS, individuals who are blind or visually impaired have the right to full participation in the life of the state, including the use of advanced technology which is purchased by the state for use by employees, program participants and members of the general public; and
WHEREAS, technological advances allow interactive control of computers and use of the information by visually impaired persons, but that nonvisual access is dependent on the purchase of hardware and software that is compatible with technology used for nonvisual access; and
WHEREAS, there currently exists a wide range of computer software and hardware that permits persons who are blind or visually impaired, for example, to view documents with very large print, by listening to document text converted to speech, or reading them with Braille; and
WHEREAS, use of computer software and hardware by the blind and visually impaired to access requires that government records be uploaded in a format that can be converted to display text in very large print, to audible speech, or to Braille and that, where computer software and hardware is made available for public use, some of that technology be equipped to provide access to government records through this technology; and
WHEREAS, when government records are uploaded only in an image format such as "JPEG," "TIFF," or "PDF," without first having been scanned into a word processing format by the use of optical character reading software, blind and visually impaired persons cannot access the records because they cannot be converted to display text in very large print, to audible speech, or to Braille; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, the Senate concurring, that all branches of state government and all agencies of county governments are requested to make government records available in digitized form readable by software and hardware for the blind and visually impaired and to provide public employees and the public with the software and hardware necessary to digitize and read government records; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the chief procurement officer of each branch of state government and each agency of the county governments are requested to develop nonvisual access standards for information technology systems used by government agencies that:
(1) Provide blind or visually impaired individuals with access to information stored electronically by government agencies by ensuring compatibility with adaptive technology systems so that blind and visually impaired individuals have full and equal access when needed; and
(2) Are designed to present information, including prompts used for interactive communications, in formats intended for both visual and nonvisual use, such as the use of text-only options; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the chief procurement officer of each branch of state government and each agency of the county governments are requested to:
(1) Consult with agencies and representatives of individuals who are blind or visually impaired in developing the nonvisual access standards and the procurement criteria;
(2) Establish a written plan and develop any proposed budget requests for implementing the nonvisual access standards for each agency at facilities accessible by the public; and
(3) Permit the installation and effective use of the applications, programs and underlying operating systems, including the format of the data, used for the manipulation and presentation of information that are compatible with nonvisual access software and peripheral devices; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Chair of the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii, the Chair of the Board of Education, and the Mayor of the
counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui and the city and county of Honolulu.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Government Records; Access by Blind and Visually Impaired
