STAND. COM. REP. NO. 97

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 579

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 579 entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to ensure the constitutionally- and ethically-mandated preservation of the Native Hawaiian language and culture by requiring that all state and county documents, letterheads, symbols, and emblems, when newly created, replaced, or reprinted, contain the accurate, appropriate, and authentic Hawaiian names and language.

 

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by one organization and four public citizens.  One state agency supported the intent of the measure.  Copies of written testimony are available for review on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committee finds that the State reaffirmed Hawaiian as one of its official languages in 1978, and since that time the Legislature has backed efforts to incorporate the Hawaiian language into official state writings, emblems, and signs.  This measure will ensure that these public inscriptions are mandatory, accurate, and spelled correctly, using the proper Hawaiian macrons and glottal stops.

 

     Your Committee has adopted the recommendation of the Department of Accounting and General Services to amend the measure by changing the term "language" to the term "word" in section 1‑13.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 579, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 579, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs,

 

 

 

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair