| 1 | 1 | | III |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. RES. 83 |
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| 5 | 5 | | Designating February 2025 as ‘‘Hawaiian Language Month’’ or ‘‘ ‘O¯lelo |
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| 6 | 6 | | Hawai‘i Month’’. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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| 8 | 8 | | FEBRUARY19, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mr. S |
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| 10 | 10 | | CHATZ(for himself and Ms. HIRONO) submitted the following resolution; |
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| 11 | 11 | | which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary |
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| 12 | 12 | | RESOLUTION |
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| 13 | 13 | | Designating February 2025 as ‘‘Hawaiian Language Month’’ |
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| 14 | 14 | | or ‘‘‘O¯lelo Hawai‘i Month’’. |
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| 15 | 15 | | Whereas the Hawaiian language, or ‘O¯lelo Hawai‘i— |
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| 16 | 16 | | (1) is the Native language of Native Hawaiians, the |
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| 17 | 17 | | aboriginal, Indigenous people who— |
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| 18 | 18 | | (A) settled the Hawaiian archipelago as early as |
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| 19 | 19 | | 300 A.D., over which they exercised sovereignty; and |
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| 20 | 20 | | (B) over time, founded the Kingdom of Hawai‘i; |
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| 21 | 21 | | and |
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| 22 | 22 | | (2) was once widely spoken by Native Hawaiians |
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| 23 | 23 | | and non-Native Hawaiians throughout the Kingdom of |
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| 24 | 24 | | Hawai‘i, which held one of the highest literacy rates in |
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| 25 | 25 | | the world prior to the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom |
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| 26 | 26 | | of Hawai‘i in 1893 and the establishment of the Republic |
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| 27 | 27 | | of Hawai‘i; |
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| 28 | 28 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Feb 20, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR83.IS SR83 |
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| 29 | 29 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 30 | 30 | | •SRES 83 IS |
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| 31 | 31 | | Whereas the Republic of Hawai‘i enacted a law in 1896 effec- |
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| 32 | 32 | | tively banning school instruction in ‘O¯lelo Hawai‘i, which |
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| 33 | 33 | | led to the near extinction of the language by the 1980s |
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| 34 | 34 | | when fewer than 50 fluent speakers under 18 years old |
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| 35 | 35 | | remained; |
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| 36 | 36 | | Whereas, since the 1960s, Native Hawaiians have led a |
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| 37 | 37 | | grassroots revitalization of their Native language, launch- |
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| 38 | 38 | | ing a number of historic initiatives, including— |
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| 39 | 39 | | (1) ‘Aha Pu¯nana Leo’s Hawaiian language immer- |
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| 40 | 40 | | sion preschools; |
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| 41 | 41 | | (2) the Hawaiian language immersion program of |
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| 42 | 42 | | the Hawai‘i State Department of Education; and |
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| 43 | 43 | | (3) the Hawaiian language programs of the Univer- |
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| 44 | 44 | | sity of Hawai‘i system; |
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| 45 | 45 | | Whereas the Hawaiian language revitalization movement in- |
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| 46 | 46 | | spired systemic Native language policy reform, includ- |
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| 47 | 47 | | ing— |
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| 48 | 48 | | (1) the State of Hawai‘i recognizing ‘O¯lelo Hawai‘i |
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| 49 | 49 | | as an official language in the Constitution of the State |
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| 50 | 50 | | of Hawai‘i in 1978; |
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| 51 | 51 | | (2) the State of Hawai‘i removing the 90-year ban |
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| 52 | 52 | | on teaching ‘O¯lelo Hawai‘i in public and private schools |
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| 53 | 53 | | in 1986; |
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| 54 | 54 | | (3) the enactment of the Native American Lan- |
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| 55 | 55 | | guages Act (25 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.) in 1990, which es- |
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| 56 | 56 | | tablished the policy of the United States to preserve, pro- |
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| 57 | 57 | | tect, and promote the rights and freedom of Native |
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| 58 | 58 | | Americans to use, practice, and develop Native American |
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| 59 | 59 | | languages; and |
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| 60 | 60 | | (4) the State of Hawai‘i designating the month of |
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| 61 | 61 | | February as ‘‘‘O¯lelo Hawai‘i Month’’ to celebrate and en- |
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| 62 | 62 | | courage the use of the Hawaiian language; and |
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| 65 | 65 | | •SRES 83 IS |
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| 66 | 66 | | Whereas the enactment of the Native American Language |
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| 67 | 67 | | Resource Center Act of 2022 (20 U.S.C. 7457) in |
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| 68 | 68 | | 2023— |
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| 69 | 69 | | (1) reconfirmed a Federal commitment to revital- |
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| 70 | 70 | | izing Indigenous languages, including the Hawaiian lan- |
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| 71 | 71 | | guage; and |
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| 72 | 72 | | (2) resulted in the Department of Education award- |
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| 73 | 73 | | ing the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo a 5-year grant to |
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| 74 | 74 | | establish the first National Native American Language |
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| 75 | 75 | | Resource Center: Now, therefore, be it |
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| 76 | 76 | | Resolved, That the Senate— 1 |
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| 77 | 77 | | (1) designates February 2025 as ‘‘Hawaiian 2 |
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| 78 | 78 | | Language Month’’ or ‘‘‘O¯lelo Hawai‘i Month’’; 3 |
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| 79 | 79 | | (2) commits to preserving, protecting, and pro-4 |
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| 80 | 80 | | moting the use, practice, and development of ‘O¯lelo 5 |
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| 81 | 81 | | Hawai‘i in alignment with the Native American Lan-6 |
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| 82 | 82 | | guages Act (25 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.); and 7 |
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| 83 | 83 | | (3) urges the people of the United States and 8 |
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| 84 | 84 | | interested groups to celebrate ‘O¯lelo Hawai‘i Month 9 |
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| 85 | 85 | | with appropriate activities and programs to dem-10 |
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| 86 | 86 | | onstrate support for ‘O¯lelo Hawai‘i. 11 |
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| 87 | 87 | | Æ |
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