Bill Text: HI SB2175 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Hawaiian Language; Month; February; Public Documents; Letterhead; Symbols

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2012-03-16 - (H) Passed Second Reading and referred to the committee(s) on JUD with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Herkes, Kawakami, Oshiro, Tokioka excused (4). [SB2175 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-SB2175-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2522

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2175

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Economic Development and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 2175 entitled:

 

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

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to designate the month of February as "Olelo Hawaii Month" to celebrate and encourage the use of Hawaiian language.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, an individual member of the Maui County Council, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, Kuakini Hawaiian Civic Club of Kona, Sovereign Councils of the Hawaiian Homelands Assembly, Kewalo Hawaiian Homestead Community Association, Waianae Kai Homestead Community Association, Nanakuli Homestead Community Association, Anuenue School, and four individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that while the Hawaiian language was once spoken throughout Hawaii by Native Hawaiians and foreigners alike, the language was considered to be nearly extinct by the 1980s, when fewer than fifty fluent speakers under the age of eighteen were left.  A major reason for the deterioration of the Hawaiian language was an 1896 law that required English instruction in Hawaii schools, which essentially banned Hawaiian students from speaking their native tongue.  However, great strides have been made to bring about a renaissance of the Hawaiian language through programs such as ‘Aha Punana Leo's Hawaiian language immersion schools, the Department of Education's Hawaiian language immersion program, and the Hawaiian language programs of the University of Hawaii System.

 

     Your Committees also find that usage of the Hawaiian language will increase if state and county documents, letterheads, symbols, and emblems, when newly created, replaced, or reprinted, contain accurate, appropriate, and authentic Hawaiian names and language.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting language from S.B. 1130, S.D. 1, Regular Session of 2011, which requires all newly created, replaced, or reprinted, state and county documents, letterheads, symbols, and emblems, to contain accurate, appropriate, and authentic Hawaiian names and language;

 

     (2)  Inserting language translating section 1 of S.B. 1130, S.D. 1, into the Hawaiian language; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Economic Development and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2175, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2175, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Economic Development and Technology,

 

____________________________ CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair		____________________________ BRICKWOOD GALUTERIA, Chair