Finance committee advances University of Hawaii language-access and interpreter-training measures

The House Committee on Finance voted Feb. 25 to advance two University of Hawaii bills aimed at expanding language access and interpreter training statewide.

HB2005, HD2 would establish a statewide language-access education and workforce development program at the University of Hawaii. The committee took the bill up early in the agenda to accommodate an ASL provider and recommended it pass unamended.

Supporters said the bill addresses a critical shortfall in qualified interpreters. Yasmin Cheney, Executive Director of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, said she stood on her written testimony in support ("I stand on my written testimony in support of this measure," SEG 059-062). Committee members voted to adopt the recommendation unanimously.

Lawmakers then heard HB2489, HD1, which sponsors and witnesses described as a companion effort to create degree-level pathways for interpreters. Peter Renata, dean of the College of Arts, Languages and Letters at the University of Hawaii, told the committee the bill responds to a shortage of "critical interpreters" and that the Department of Linguistics would be a natural home for the program. He said the university and interim provost stand on their written testimony (SEG 566-573).

Christine Pagano of the Disability and Communication Access Board, who identified herself as Deaf and described the community impacts, testified the number of sign-language interpreters in Hawaii has declined sharply and that many are nearing retirement. "There are about maybe 25, maybe 30" interpreters now, and a four-year degree program could replenish that pipeline, Pagano said (SEG 600-626). Jan Fried, a professor at Kapiolani Community College, urged degree-level training to keep interpreters in Hawaii and avoid brain drain (SEG 648-672).

Committee members noted broad written support — including testimony from community colleges, state agencies and more than three dozen individuals — and pressed for funding and program design details in subsequent budget discussions. The committee voted to pass HB2489 unamended; the chair said the Farm Bureau's and other stakeholders' technical concerns would be noted in committee reports where appropriate (SEG 699-716).

The bills now move forward with committee recommendations and will proceed through the legislative process where financing and program specifics will be negotiated.

The committee recessed and later continued consideration of unrelated bills after taking votes on these measures.