STAND. COM. REP. 3398

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.C.R. No. 92

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Health, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 92 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII TO SPEEDILY REBUILD A SCHOOL OF GLOBAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to urge the University of Hawaii to speedily rebuild a school of global and public health.

Your Committees received testimony in support of the measure from the Chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Dean of the School of Medicine of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of Hawaii School of Public Health Alumni Association, and three holders of the degree of Master of Public Health.

Your Committees find that rebuilding the School of Global and Public Health will help avert a workforce crisis, bring in new financial resources to Hawaii, and protect the health and security of the people of Hawaii. A School of Global and Public Health is of critical importance as a service to our State as well as an important way to meet the University's research mission. The closure of the School of Public Health has severely limited the ability of the University to meet the State's demands for public health workers. The State now faces a shortage of public health workers at a time when their role in keeping us healthy is expanding. The lack of qualified public health workers is felt in our communities, including the "ice epidemic", Hawaii's growing elderly population, bioterrorism, and health disparities.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended the measure to include other necessary background information on the school's closure.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 92, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 92, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Health,

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ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

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NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair