STAND. COM. REP. NO.  627-16

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2016

 

RE:   H.B. No. 539

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 539 entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure, as received by your Committee, is to:

 

(1)  Establish the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH-Manoa) Athletics Department as an entity governed by a Board of Governors (Board); and

 

(2)  Transfer administration of the UH-Manoa Intercollegiate Athletics Special Fund from the University to the Board and authorize the Board to select an Athletic Director.

 

     An individual provided testimony in support of this measure.  The University of Hawaii System and an individual provided testimony in opposition to this measure.  The Chair of the University of Hawaii's Board of Regents' Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, the Chairperson of the Associated Students of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and an individual provided comments.

 

For the purposes of the public hearing, your Committee circulated a Proposed House Draft 1 (Proposed Draft), which deletes the original measure's contents and inserts language that:

 

(1)  Requires that the UH-Manoa Athletics Department be a separate program ID in the state budget;

 

(2)  Requires that scholarship expenses funds be transferred to the UH-Manoa Athletics Department;

 

(3)  Prohibits allocation of general funds to the UH-Manoa Athletics Department except for Title IX compliance;

 

(4)  Requires that UH-Manoa men's teams collectively be fiscally self-sufficient;

 

(5)  Requires the University of Hawaii to report annually regarding the state of implementation to the Legislature; and

 

(6)  Appropriates $3,000,000 for the UH-Manoa Athletics Department, which shall be in addition to the University's base budget.

 

The Proposed Draft would take effect on July 1, 2016, and be repealed on June 30, 2021.

 

Your Committee received comments on the Proposed Draft from the University of Hawaii System.

 

Your Committee considered the merits of both H.B. No. 539 and the Proposed Draft and, upon careful consideration, adopted the Proposed Draft.  Your Committee further amended the Proposed Draft by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying that the UH-Manoa Athletics Department would be funded by UH-Manoa for all Athletics Department scholarship expenses, not only tuition or costs covered by waivers; and

 

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2525, to encourage further discussion.

 

     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. 539, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 539, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

ISAAC W. CHOY, Chair