Deal mandates non-English driver exams

The state is promising to make driver’s licensing examinations in Hawaiʻi available in non-English versions for at least the next five years under a settlement agreement reached between the state and the immigrant advocacy group Faith Action for Community Equity.

The agreement between FACE and the state Department of Transportation was announced Thursday, the same day jury selection in FACE’s lawsuit over the issue was scheduled to begin in U.S. District Court. Instead, District Judge Susan Oki Mollway approved the settlement.

While the state has made the tests available in 12 non-English languages since 2014, the plaintiffs said it was important to proceed with the case to gain assurances for the long term, and the settlement reached this week does that, said Gavin Thornton, an attorney with the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, which has been representing FACE in the case.

Tests were made available in many of the 12 languages prior to 2008, but they were pulled and not replaced when the state Legislature required a new question be added to the exam. It then took the state more than five years, and a lawsuit, for the non-English versions to become available again, Thornton said. The state previously had contended that it was not required to offer non-English tests, he said.

“Under the settlement, the state has agreed to continue offering translated driver’s examinations in the 12 nonEnglish languages now offered for a period of at least five years,” Thornton said. “If additional questions are added to the examination by the Legislature, the questions will be translated and added to the examination without any lapse in the availability of translated examinations.”

The two sides will also work to review the Chuukese version of the exam, which drew complaints for being difficult to understand, Thornton said.

FACE’s core argument was that not having the non-English tests available for such a lengthy period, by itself, constituted discrimination by the state. Obtaining a driver’s license is vital for those with limited English skills when they seek employment, education and health care.

The 12 languages are Tagalog, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Samoan, Tongan, Ilocano, Spanish, Chuukese, Marshallese and Hawaiian.