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Committee advances bill requiring ASL interpreters for official emergency broadcasts
Summary
The House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee advanced HB1531 (HD1), which would require governors and county mayors to provide American Sign Language interpreters (visible in picture-in-picture) for live official emergency announcements; the committee adopted amendments on picture-in-picture presentation and an implementation date and advanced the measure out of committee with some members noting logistical reservations.
A Hawaii House committee on Thursday advanced legislation that would require the governor or a county mayor to include an American Sign Language interpreter in any live official emergency announcement broadcast on television or the internet.
Chair David Tarnas moved House Bill 1531 (HD1) to the top of the day’s agenda and recommended adoption of amendments requested by the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to ensure the interpreter appears in a sufficiently large picture-in-picture window and is not visually blocked. The committee voted to advance the bill with amendments and recorded several members as voting with reservations.
Disability advocates told the committee current practices can leave deaf and hard-of-hearing residents without access to urgent information. "As you just experienced just now, people who are deaf and hard of hearing… will not have access to what is being announced," said Christine Pagano of the Disability Communication and Access Board, describing captioning errors and interpreter placement that can render messages unintelligible to sign-language users. Pagano and a technical witness demonstrated how captions and small or poorly positioned interpreter windows can fail to convey critical details.
Dean Bartoldos, executive director of the Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities, urged the committee to adopt specifications for the picture-in-picture display and recommended an effective date that would give agencies time to prepare. "We… respectfully request that the act take effect 07/01/2027 to provide the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency significant time to prepare implementation," Bartoldos said during testimony.
Committee members expressed broad support for the bill’s intent while raising practical concerns about interpreter availability across all islands and during disruptive events that can affect transmission or travel. Brian McKinnon, who participated in the demonstration, noted that technology and planning (including remote interpreting) can mitigate some logistical hurdles, but also acknowledged constraints in interpreter supply.
The committee advanced HB1531 with the recommended technical amendments; members asked staff and agencies to work on implementation details, including standards for the interpreter window and contingency planning for islands with limited local interpreter availability.
The measure will move to the next stage of the legislative process for further consideration.
