Hawaii House resolutions call for judiciary’s website to be rewritten to include Hawaiian language; task force includes few members from judiciary

Hawaii’s State Constitution declares in part that “English and Hawaiian shall be the official languages of Hawaii.” In response, a member of the Hawaii House has introduced both a simple (HR 152) and concurrent (HCR 217) resolution calling on the judiciary to consider a redesign of the branch’s website to include material in Hawaiian. Both resolutions are set for hearings tomorrow (March 25) before the House Ocean, Marine Resources, & Hawaiian Affairs Committee.

Specifically the resolutions call for a special task force to prepare a report in the next year on the subject of converting materials on the judiciary’s website to Hawaiian. Interestingly the 12 member task force would be made up of only 2 members from judiciary. The task force’s specific assignments would be:

  1. Conduct a feasibility study to examine the scope and cost of implementing Hawaiian language resources on the Judiciary’s public website, as well as legal forms and documents
  2. Develop a plan to ensure that updated information contained on the Judiciary’s public website contains the accurate, appropriate, and authentic Hawaiian language version of all documents
  3. Identify the resources necessary to effectuate the purpose of this measure, such as manaleo, native Hawaiian speakers, who can provide services to timely ensure all information on the website is appropriately updated into the Hawaiian language, information technology software, and the cost of services and software
  4. Conduct any other business deemed necessary to carry out the purpose of this measure