STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2200

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2534

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Education and Water, Land, and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2534 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the school facilities special fund and require that the income generated by the Public Land Development Corporation from public school lands and facilities be deposited in the special fund for the purposes of new construction, upgrades, and repair and maintenance of public school facilities.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Public Land Development Corporation, Department of Education, Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs, Hawaii Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, and Hawaii Carpenters Union.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, The Pacific Resource Partnership, and one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that this measure has the potential to provide the Department of Education with much needed capital for new school construction and the upgrade and retrofit of existing schools to meet twenty-first century standards.  Your Committees further find that twenty-first century school standards should, among other things, incorporate:

 

     (1)  Modular design and construction to provide flexibility for all types of learning;

 

     (2)  Design that will allow the accommodation of community uses before and after school hours to maximize the benefits for students, parents, teachers, and community members;

 

     (3)  Conduits for electricity and internet broadband capabilities throughout the school; and

 

     (4)  Design and construction methods that will foster more efficient use of energy, space, and financial resources.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adding language to clarify that funds deposited into the school facilities special fund are the proceeds less certain costs associated with bond issuance and administering, operating, and maintaining projects on public school land or utilizing public school facilities;

 

     (2)  Giving the Department of Education, in consultation with the Board of Education, the responsibility of administering the school facilities special fund rather than the Public Land Development Corporation;

 

     (3)  Clarifying that the school facilities special fund is to be used for the retrofit and upgrade of existing school facilities to meet twenty-first century school standards rather than general repair and maintenance; and

 

     (4)  Making technical, nonsusbtantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Water, Land, and Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2534, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2534, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Water, Land, and Housing,

 

____________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

 

____________________________

JILL TOKUDA, Chair