STAND. COM. REP. NO. 234-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 1948

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1948 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMUNITY LIBRARIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to:

(1) Require the Board of Education and Hawaii State Public Library System (HSPLS) to seek to establish parity in staffing and collections for every community, school, and public library;

(2) Require the State Librarian to convene a temporary advisory committee on parity in public libraries; and

(3) Appropriate funds for staffing and resources for libraries in rural areas of Oahu and on the Neighbor Islands.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this bill from HSPLS.

Your Committee finds that libraries are access points for communities to find the information that they seek. Moreover, a state-of-the-art library is essential for providing necessary services and information to its users.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Changing the appropriation amount to $1 to facilitate further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for purposes of style and clarity.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1948, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1948, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

 

____________________________

ROY M. TAKUMI, Chair