Bill Text: HI SB16 | 2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Hawaiian As An Official Language Of The State Of Hawaii.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-12-11 - Carried over to 2024 Regular Session. [SB16 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2024-SB16-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
16 |
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THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO HAWAIIAN AS AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that at the
Constitutional Convention of Hawaii of 1978, the committee on Hawaiian affairs
proposed the constitutional amendment that is now enshrined in article XV,
section 4, of the Hawaii State Constitution, which establishes Hawaiian as an
official language of the State of Hawaii.
The committee felt it necessary to include this amendment in the constitution
"to give full recognition and honor to the rich cultural inheritance that
Hawaiians have given to all ethnic groups of the State".
The
legislature further finds that passage of this Act would contribute to the
growing international movement for the protection of the rights of the world's
indigenous peoples. In 2007, the United
Nations adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples. In 2011, the United States
became a signatory on the Declaration. Article
13 of the Declaration states:
"1. Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons.
2. States shall take effective measures to ensure that this right is protected and also to ensure that indigenous peoples can understand and be understood in political, legal and administrative proceedings, where necessary through the provision of interpretation or by other appropriate means".
Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to
require that the Hawaiian version of a law be held binding if the law in
question was originally drafted in Hawaiian and then translated into English.
SECTION 2. Section 1-13, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§1-13 Official languages. English and Hawaiian [are] shall be
the official languages of Hawaii. [Whenever
there is found to exist] If any radical and irreconcilable
difference between the English and Hawaiian version of any of the laws of the
State[,] exists, the English version shall be held binding[.];
provided that if the law in question was originally drafted in Hawaiian and the
English version was translated based on the Hawaiian version, and if the law
has not been subsequently amended, codified, recodified, or reenacted in
English, the Hawaiian version shall be held binding. Hawaiian shall not be required for public
acts and transactions."
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
Report Title:
Hawaiian Language; State Law
Description:
Requires that the Hawaiian version of a law be held binding if the
law in question was originally drafted in Hawaiian and then translated into
English and if the law has not been subsequently amended, codified,
recodified, or reenacted in English.
(HD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
