STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1126

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 510
                                        H.D. 1
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Education and Technology, to which was
referred H.B. No. 510, H.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to enable the Board of
Education to respond more efficiently to the legal needs of the
Board, the Department of Education, and the Hawaii State Public
Library System by allowing the Board of Education to employ or
retain its own attorneys without the approval of the Attorney
General.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Board of Education.  Testimony in support of the intent of this
measure was submitted by the Hawaii Government Employees
Association.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was
submitted by the Department of the Attorney General.

     Your Committee finds that the most pressing reason for the
Board of Education to hire attorneys is the burden of legal
compliance with the Felix Consent Decree.  This has surfaced at
the school level as one of the most sensitive and legally complex
areas within the roles and responsibilities of school
administrators, diagnostic team members, special education
teachers, regular education teachers, and school counselors.  


 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1126
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     While your Committee concurs with the Department of the
Attorney General that giving the Board of Education the
broad-based power to hire attorneys is not prudent, the three
attorneys currently provided by the Department of the Attorney
General are unable to handle all of the legal issues surrounding
the Felix decision.  Thus, your Committee finds that the
Department of Education needs to retain its own attorneys for
issues involving children with disabilities.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure to
delete its contents in their entirety and replace them with
section 1 of S.B. No. 669, S.D. 1, and sections 2 and 3 of S.B.
No. 1586, S.D. 2.  All of these sections were previously heard in
your Committee.  As amended, this measure would allow the Board
of Education to appoint or retain attorneys to provide legal
services to the Department of Education for issues involving
children with disabilities, including advice and assistance to
ensure the lawful and efficient administration and operation of
the Department of Education in the area of children with
disabilities.  

     Your Committee stresses that this measure, as amended, is
not a statement against the Department of the Attorney General,
and it is the intent of your Committee that attorneys hired by
the Board of Education be used solely to provide legal advice and
assistance in the administration of Felix compliance.  The Board
of Education must rely on the Department of the Attorney General
to provide legal assistance in all other areas.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Education and Technology that is attached to this
report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose
of H.B. No. 510, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that
it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B.
No. 510, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways
and Means.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

 
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