STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1181

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 20

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 20 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow the University of Hawaii (UH) and Department of Education (DOE) greater autonomy over their internal operations by removing the June 30, 2005, sunset date of Act 321, Session Laws of Hawaii 1986, which allows UH and DOE to assume authority and responsibility for a variety of fiscal matters.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from UH and the Department of Education.

Your Committee heard a similar measure, S.B. No. 898, that repealed the sunset date. Your Committee finds that, if the sunset date is not repealed, the University of Hawaii's authority over its acquisition of goods and services will revert to the Department of Accounting and General Services on June 30, 2005. Your Committee finds that the original sunset date of Act 321 has been extended several times over the last two decades and that this string of extensions reflects the gravity of the matter requiring continued examination.

Your Committee has accordingly followed the Senate position as reflected in S.B. No. 898, S.D. 1 and has amended this measure by extending the repeal date of Act 321 from June 30, 2005 to June 30, 2006.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 20, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 20, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Higher Education,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair