Hawaii Senate Bill SB711

Hawaii 2022 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/22/21
• Refer: 1/27/21
• Refer: 2/11/21

Caption

Relating To Hawaiian Language.

Impact

The enactment of SB711 is expected to have significant implications for the state laws concerning language use in official documents. It reinforces existing statutes that recognize Hawaiian as an official language and establishes stricter standards for its usage in public documents. This legislative action not only affirms the state's commitment to preserving Hawaiian culture and language but also aims to mitigate past issues linked to misinterpretations and misspellings in official documents, which had been a point of contention in earlier legislative sessions.

Summary

SB711 aims to safeguard and promote the Hawaiian language by mandating that state and county documents, letterheads, symbols, and emblems containing Hawaiian words or names reflect accurate and authentic Hawaiian spelling and punctuation. This includes the proper use of macrons and glottal stops, which are critical for the correct representation of the Hawaiian language. The bill emphasizes that while it does not require documents to be fully translated into Hawaiian, any inclusion of Hawaiian words must follow established guidelines to ensure their authenticity.

Contention

Notably, there are ongoing discussions regarding the implementation of this bill, especially in light of previous legislative failures to enhance Hawaiian language visibility in government. The bill seeks to address concerns about the efficacy of previous administrative initiatives that failed to materialize, prompting the need for a statutory requirement to enforce accurate representation of the Hawaiian language. Critics remain vigilant regarding the potential challenges in consistently applying these standards across various state and county agencies.