STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2427

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2399

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Government Operations and Higher Education and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2399 entitled:

 

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

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require, for purposes of an exemption from civil service laws, all state agencies to obtain the Governor's written approval on a request for, amendment to, or supplement to the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii's services for a project.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO and Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME, Unit 8 Board.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, Auwahi Forest Restoration Project, and seventy-eight individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the University of Hawaii System, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, and one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that in the June 2015, Office of the Auditor's Report No. 15-07, the Auditor found that the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii (RCUH) allows state agencies to secure services without the approval of the Governor, as required by the Master Agreement between the State and RCUH.  Implementation of this measure codifies what currently is in the Master Agreement and will improve oversight of projects to ensure the integrity of the services provided by RCUH.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (2)  Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Higher Education and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2399, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2399, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Higher Education and the Arts,

 

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

 

________________________________

DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair