STAND. COM. REP. NO 324

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 327

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Higher Education and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 327 entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate $225,000 in general funds for four full-time equivalent (4.0 FTE) positions to the University of Hawaii Pamantasan Council to help the State and the University of Hawaii meet strategic goals for access and diversity in higher education.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawaii System, University of Hawaii Pamantasan Council, University of Hawaii Pamantasan Executive Council, Filipino American Citizens League, Nursing Advocates & Mentors Inc., Kabataang maka-Bayan/Pro-People Youth (KmB), Filipinos for Affirmative Action, and twelve individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that despite their high representation in the general population and schools within the Department of Education, students of Filipino ancestry are underrepresented in the University of Hawaii System.  Filipino students comprise only twelve percent of the entire University of Hawaii System student population.  Six percent of the community colleges faculty and two and one half percent of the University of Hawaii at Manoa faculty are of Filipino ancestry.  The fifteen percent postsecondary degree rate held by Filipinos is the lowest among all ethnic groups in Hawaii.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 327 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair