Report Title:

School Repair and Maintenance; Reports from State Agencies

Description:

Requires gathering of data and submission of reports by the department of accounting and general services and the department of education regarding school repair and maintenance projects. (HB281 SD2)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

281

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

S.D. 2


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO STATE EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE.

 

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

SECTION 1. The children and teachers of Hawaii's public schools require safe, secure, well-maintained, and clean schools to achieve high levels of teaching and learning. It has become increasingly clear that the conditions of our public schools depend on the availability of funds and effective management of facility needs. Currently, the facility needs of many of our schools are not being met or properly addressed. Support, resources, technical assistance, training, and services are necessary to enable our school community to reach and maintain the highest level of performance standards.

The State has invested approximately $1,700,000,000 in the construction and maintenance of our public schools. However, the funds have not been available to adequately repair and maintain these facilities. In 2001, the legislature passed and the governor enacted Act 316, which:

(1) Established the school physical plant operations and maintenance account to pay for normal ongoing school repairs and preventive maintenance projects scheduled after June 30, 2001;

(2) Established the state educational facilities repair and maintenance account to eliminate the backlog of projects existing on June 30, 2000;

(3) Specified how school repairs and maintenance are to be prioritized and moneys allocated; and

(4) Provided for the establishment of eight school business and fiscal officers to oversee school facilities planning.

The repair and maintenance program is currently operated under a memorandum of agreement between the department of education (DOE) and the department of accounting and general services (DAGS). Under this arrangement, DAGS serves as the expending agency and overall project manager, and controls the implementation of all school-related repair and maintenance activities. A 1992 report by the auditor and other reports have attributed much of the increasing backlog and overall inefficiencies in school repair and maintenance to the lack of control afforded to DOE under this agreement. To maximize the use of valuable taxpayer dollars, DOE should be provided with the authority to oversee repair and maintenance moneys and hold DAGS accountable for effectively and responsibly performing these duties.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to enable DOE to set priorities for school repair and maintenance projects, which would then be carried out by DAGS.

SECTION 2. In order for the DOE to effectively manage the educational facilities under their control, the following data shall be compiled and reported as follows:

(1) DAGS shall compile and submit a report not less than quarterly to the DOE regarding the current status of projects on pre-June 30, 2001, and post-June 30, 2001, lists, respectively, including:

(A) Information regarding proposed projects, including, but not limited to: date of project request, description, amount and date of estimated cost, priority code, current status, projected start date, and link to any other proposed project, which shall be reported in a format that will enable the information to be sorted by district, complex, school, building, classroom or other site-specific identifying criteria, and by type of work involved, site of project, and priority rank assignment;

(B) Other information to assist DAGS, DOE, and others to assess the possibility of combining projects by type (i.e., roofing, electrical), geographic location, or availability of government and private sector resources, to create synergies that facilitate earlier completion dates;

(C) A monthly status report of on-going projects, including: budgeted cost, cost accrued to date, estimated cost to complete, total projected completed cost, and projected budget overruns or savings amounts; and

(D) A monthly list of projects by school complex and school that will be ready for preliminary and final inspection for preparation of punch-lists and transmittal of final documents to the DOE;

(2) DOE shall compile and report information to all school complexes and schools indicating the current status of projects on pre-June 30, 2001, and post-June 30, 2001, lists, respectively, as follows:

(A) At least annually, a listing of requested capital improvement projects by school complex and school, including all information needed to enable DAGS, DOE, and others to evaluate the priority of appropriations and expending funds for facilities of a school or within a complex, whether the project is a capital improvement project, repair and maintenance project (pre-June 30, 2001, or post-June 30, 2001), or is placed in a lump sum or other category of work;

(B) At least annually, an integrated list of all project requests (i.e., capital improvement, repair and maintenance, emergency, etc.) by complex and school, and the current status of each request (i.e., completed, in process, pending funding, or disapproved); and

(C) On a quarterly basis, schedules for projects to commence at each school and complex; provided that the school and complex shall acknowledge and accept each project, including final completion; and

(3) DOE and DAGS shall submit interim or final reports to the governor, the legislature, the board of education, the department of budget and finance, and each school complex and school by September 30, 2003.

SECTION 3. DOE and DAGS shall submit a report to the legislature, not later than twenty days prior to the convening of each regular session, on actions taken to maximize utilization of available funding to develop a work schedule that incorporates all available resources to reduce the backlog of all identified repair and maintenance projects, including projects identified in the pre-June 30, 2001, and post-June 30, 2001, lists, from $640 million to $100 million, together with recommendations and proposed legislation to implement the suggested transfer of authority over repair and maintenance funds from DAGS to DOE, if any.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2030.