STAND. COM. REP. NO.917

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: S.B. No. 821

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 821, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR LAPTOPS FOR LEARNING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to extend the funding for the Laptops for Learning program to start a loaner program for students who cannot afford to purchase through the program.

Computers are as inevitably a part of the future of education as books and pencils are part of the present. To help even out the "digital divide," the Legislature initiated the Laptops for Learning program to allow students in lower socioeconomic areas to purchase laptop computers. However, even with this program, some students are just not able to afford to purchase laptops, and these are the very students who may be most likely to remain on the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder unless they have access to the same technology as their more well-off peers.

Your Committee finds that having their own computer boosts students' familiarity with and use of the computer, facilitating learning, research, communication, and comprehension.

Your Committee has amended this bill by making technical amendments, including changing the effective date from upon approval to July 1, 2001, to coincide with the State's fiscal year.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 821, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 821, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair