LANGUAGE ACCESS LAW WILL INCREASE COST

Governor Linda Lingle signed the language access bill into law on July 10. The new law is designed to improve state and state-funded services to immigrants with limited English proficiency.

Opponents of the bill said it would create a new cause of action against the state as well as increase costs and bureaucracy. The original bill included $450,000 for a new language office and staff and continuing demands for taxpayer funding while offering immigrants no incentive to learn English.

HB2778 (Act 290) passed out of the legislatures with only Senators Hemmings, Kim, Trimble, Whalen and myself voting against the bill. No one in the House voted against it.

The new law requires the state, as well as state-funded programs, to develop plans to provide interpretation services and translated documents to immigrants and residents who have limited ability to read or speak English. The bill also establishes the Office of Language Access within the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR). Agencies must submit a language access plan by July 1, 2007.

From the Hawaii Kai NHB#1 Report, July 28, 2006.