Maui Voters To Decide If County Should Operate As A Bilingual Government 0 While some support the charter amendment’s sharper focus on Hawaiian cultural preservation, others say it’s too vague and not worth the taxpayer investment.
Voters in Maui County will soon decide the fate of a sweeping proposal to facilitate a bilingual local government.
The measure would require the county to issue all official notices in English and Hawaiian, the endangered language of Hawaii’s native people that, after generations of decline, is experiencing a revival.
The Nov. 8 ballot question would also create an oiwi, or Indigenous, resources department to manage county activities related to Hawaiian language, place names, natural resources, cultural sites and practices and ancestral burials and bones. The department would collaborate with the county planning director on revisions to the Maui County General Plan and other long-range planning documents to better protect and perpetuate these resources.
