STAND. COM. REP. NO. 408

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 816

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 816 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO A STATE LOTTERY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Create a state lottery;

 

     (2)  Create the state lottery commission, state lottery account, and lottery administration account; and

 

     (3)  Require certain amounts of lottery revenues to be deposited into the administrative account, general fund, and special funds for university facilities and operations and public school operations.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from four individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Honolulu Police Department, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii Family Forum, and four individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Education, Department of Budget and Finance, University of Hawaii System, and Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that compared to other states, Hawaii is unique because the State, rather than a county or local level jurisdiction, is responsible for the full cost and administration of public education.  As a result, funding for public education in Hawaii is primarily sourced from the State's general fund.  Your Committee further finds that public education in Hawaii is not adequately funded and continuous underfunding of public schools undermines the State's goal of providing a quality education to all of Hawaii's children.  This measure creates a lottery to provide a new means for funding Hawaii's public education system and ensure that the State will be able to prepare children to meet the social and economic demands of the twenty-first century.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Specifying that the earliest date that the lottery may commence is prior to January 1, 2023, rather than prior to January 1, 2022; and

 

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

 

     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 S.B. No. 816, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 816, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

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MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair