Senate Hawaiian Affairs committee advances language, cultural and burial bills; defers Hawaiian Homes election measure

Senate Committee on Hawaiian Affairs Chair Senator Tim Richards announced Tuesday that the committee voted to advance several bills affecting Hawaiian language use, cultural centers, burial-site protections, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ budget and commemorations of Prince Jonah Kuhio — and deferred a measure to change how the Hawaiian Homes Commission is selected.

The committee took final action after public testimony from more than 100 people on multiple measures and legal comments from the Department of the Attorney General and state agencies. Chair Richards said the votes reflected amendments negotiated in committee and that some bills will include technical edits and delayed effective dates.

Why it matters: the package touches core native Hawaiian policy areas — statutory interpretation of Hawaiian-language texts, new cultural infrastructure, how burial sites are protected at the island level, funding for OHA programs and symbolic recognition for Prince Kuhio. One measure that would have changed appointment rules for the Hawaiian Homes Commission raised constitutional and federal-law questions and was deferred.

SB 109 — Hawaiian-language texts and statutory interpretation Senate Bill 109 would broaden circumstances in which an official Hawaiian-language version of a law could govern interpretation. The Department of the Attorney General, represented by Deputy Attorney General Okulei Lindsey, urged limiting language in the bill to laws originally drafted in Hawaiian and not later amended or reenacted in English. “While we appreciate the intent of this bill, section 1-13 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes currently provides that the English version of the law is binding whenever there is any radical irreconcilable difference between English and Hawaiian version of any laws of the state,” Lindsey said, recommending a targeted proviso to reduce legal…