STAND. COM. REP. NO.  613-14

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1748

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1748, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to develop a pool of certified medical interpreters in the State by appropriating funds to the Office of Language Access to:

 

     (1)  Provide financial assistance to individual award recipients for training and certification in medical interpretation from a nationally-recognized and accredited certification program in exchange for later service to the State; and

 

     (2)  Develop medical glossaries for the primary foreign languages spoken in the State.

 

     The Office of Community Services within the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; Hawaii Civil Rights Commission; Filipino Coalition for Solidarity; National Federation of Filipino American Associations Region 12; Filipino American Citizens League; Hawaii Friends for Civil Rights; Hawaii Educational Policy Center; and a concerned individual testified in support of this measure.  The Office of Language Access within the Department of Health and Hawaii Interpreter Action Network commented on this measure.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1748, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair