The state has taken a long-awaited and critical first step toward narrowing a civil-rights gap that has separated our immigrant population from the government help it deserves and needs.

With the governor signing House Bill 2778, Hawai'i now has the legal mandate to see that its people have proper access to assistance, regardless of any difficulties they have with the English language.

The "language-access bill" was six years in the making. Although it was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that first identified limited language access as a component of illegal discrimination, an executive order signed by President Clinton in 2000 added fire by directing all government agencies receiving federal funds to ensure the availability of interpreters or other language aids, or risk losing those funds.

Proponents of the bill battled the institutional inertia of the state bureaucracy. Now, even with the mandate in place, leadership and public pressure will still be needed to see that the law is carried out.

An allotment of $440,000 will get the ball rolling by creating an office, with a director and staff, within the state Labor Department to oversee the changes that will be needed statewide. An advisory council will be convened to get a clear idea of the needs in state agencies throughout the Islands. It's important that these funds be released quickly and that staff be on the job as soon as possible.

But beyond her authorization of the initial setup, Gov. Linda Lingle will need to press her department heads to give this mandate serious attention. All agencies receiving federal money will have to create a compliance plan and file it with the new Office of Language Access by July 1, 2007. The work involved will be challenging, considering that the order comes without additional funds to do even this preliminary work.

However, if the growing sector of our population with language needs is to be served fairly, the mission of making government services accessible to all can no longer be postponed. Government must consider language access an essential part of its job, and will have to make sure the money is budgeted regularly, rather than waiting for a crisis to force its hand.