RELATING TO THE JUDICIARY'S ‘ŌLELO HAWAI‘I INITIATIVES.

Budget

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor: TARNAS, BELATTI, CHUN, EVSLIN, GARCIA, GARRETT, IWAMOTO, KAHALOA, KITAGAWA, MARTEN, MORIKAWA, OLDS, PERRUSO, POEPOE, REYES ODA, SOUZA, TAKAYAMA, TAKENOUCHI, TAM, WARD
Last action: 2026-03-12
Official status: Referred to JDC/HWN, WAM.
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not specify how the funds will be used or what specific projects will receive funding.

Supporting Hawaiian Language Initiatives in Courts

This bill provides funding to the Hawaii Judiciary to support initiatives that promote the use of the Hawaiian language, known as 'Ōlelo Hawai'i, in legal settings.

What This Bill Does

Appropriates $300,000 for fiscal years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 to support the Judiciary's initiatives related to Hawaiian language use.

Who It Names or Affects

The Hawaii Judiciary

Terms To Know

'Ōlelo Hawai'i: Hawaiian language, one of the official languages of Hawaii

Limits and Unknowns

The bill does not specify how the funds will be allocated or what specific projects will receive funding.
It is unclear if this act will change existing laws about language use in courts.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HD1

Hawaii published version HD1

Plain English: This amendment appropriates funds from the state's general revenues to support the Judiciary's initiatives related to the Hawaiian language (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) for fiscal years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027.

Appropriates money from the state’s budget to help the courts provide services in Hawaiian.

The exact amount of funding is not specified, only that 'so much thereof as may be necessary' will be provided.
The amendment states an effective date of July 1, 3000, which seems to be a placeholder or error and needs clarification.

HD2

Hawaii published version HD2

Plain English: This amendment provides funding to support the Judiciary's initiatives related to the Hawaiian language, including resources and services in 'Ōlelo Hawai'i.

Appropriates funds from general revenues for fiscal year 2026-2027 to support the Judiciary's 'Ōlelo Hawai'i projects.

The exact amount of funding is not specified in the amendment text.
The effective date listed (July 1, 3000) seems incorrect and likely contains an error.

Bill History

2026-03-12 S
Referred to JDC/HWN, WAM.
2026-03-12 S
Passed First Reading.
2026-03-12 S
Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 226).
2026-03-10 H
Passed Third Reading as amended in HD 2 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Kong, Pierick excused (2). Transmitted to Senate.
2026-03-06 H
Forty-eight (48) hours notice Tuesday, 03-10-26.
2026-03-06 H
Reported from FIN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1084-26) as amended in HD 2, recommending passage on Third Reading.
2026-02-26 H
The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 16 Ayes: Representative(s) Todd, Takenouchi, Hartsfield, Hussey, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Kitagawa, Kusch, Lee, M., Miyake, Morikawa, Perruso, Templo, Yamashita, Alcos, Gedeon; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Reyes Oda; Noes: none; and Excused: none.
2026-02-24 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by FIN on Thursday, 02-26-26 2:00PM in House conference room 308 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2025-12-08 D
Carried over to 2026 Regular Session.
2025-02-10 H
Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Belatti, Cochran, Kila, Ward excused (4).
2025-02-10 H
Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 293) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.
2025-01-30 H
The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Belatti, Kahaloa, Perruso, Takayama, Todd, Garcia, Shimizu; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Cochran, Hashem.
2025-01-24 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Thursday, 01-30-25 2:00PM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2025-01-21 H
Referred to JHA, FIN, referral sheet 1
2025-01-16 H
Introduced and Pass First Reading.
2025-01-14 H
Prefiled.

Official Summary Text

RELATING TO THE JUDICIARY'S ‘ŌLELO HAWAI‘I INITIATIVES.
Judiciary; Olelo Hawaii Initiatives; Appropriations ($)
Appropriates funds to the Judiciary to support the Olelo Hawaii Initiatives. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD2)

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

HB146

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

146

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING
TO THE JUDICIARY's
�
Ō
LELO HAWAI
�
I INITIATIVES
.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

����
SECTION 1.
�
The
legislature finds that article XV, section 4, of the Hawaii State Constitution
affirms that English and
�
Ōlelo Hawai
�
i
(Hawaiian language) shall be the official languages of the State.
�
The legislature also finds that the Hawaii
State Constitution provides for the preservation and promotion of native
Hawaiian culture, history, and language in various provisions including article
X, section 4, which states, "The State shall promote the study of Hawaiian
culture, history and language."

����
The
legislature further finds that the judiciary has already taken initial steps to
explore ways of providing
�
Ōlelo Hawai
�
i
resources, interpreter, and translation services to the public.
�
To advance this work, in 2015, the
legislature adopted a concurrent resolution, H.C.R. No. 217, Session Laws of
Hawaii 2015, that requested the judiciary to convene a task force to examine
and report on establishing
�
Ōlelo Hawai
�
i
resources for the judiciary.
�
The task
force report made several findings including that
�
Ōlelo Hawai
�
i
"possesses appropriate specificity, sophistication, and technical breadth
of terminology to accurately translate legal terminology from English into
�
Ōlelo Hawai
�
i".
�
Additionally, according to the U.S. Census
Bureau's 2009-2013 American Community Survey Five-Year Estimates,
�
Ōlelo Hawai
�
i
ranks number five in languages other than English spoken at home in the
State.
�
Further, the task force found
that as an independent branch of government, the judiciary could effectively
serve as a focused model to demonstrate the use of
�
Ōlelo Hawai
�
i.

����
While the judiciary has continued its
efforts to make resources and services available in
�
Ōlelo Hawai
�
i, it
is time for more attention and funding to move these efforts forward.
�
The task force report made several
recommendations and identified projects that can serve as a guide to the judiciary.

����
The legislature notes that this Act should
not be viewed as groundbreaking.
�
Other
countries that recognize more than one official language provide access to
government services and documents in all official languages, and the United
Nations operates in six official languages.

����
The
purpose of this Act is to support the judiciary's
�
Ōlelo Hawai
�
i
initiatives.
�
It is not the legislature's
intent that the requested funds supplant the judiciary's existing funding or
budget requests.

����
SECTION 2.
�

There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii
the sum of $300,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year
2025-2026 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal
year 2026-2027
to support the judiciary's
�
Ōlelo Hawai
�
i
projects.

����
The sums

appropriated shall be expended by the judiciary for the purposes
of this Act.

����
SECTION 3.
�

This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Olelo
Hawaii

Initiatives
; Appropriations

Description:

Appropriates funds to support the Olelo Hawaii
Initiatives
.

The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.