Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1084 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize an emergency appropriation for fiscal year 2000-2001 for Felix Consent Decree requirements.

Your Committees heard testimony in support of the measure from the Department of Education and the Attorney General.

Your Committees find that, under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the State may receive up to 40% of the average per-pupil expenditure in public elementary and secondary schools multiplied by the number of children in the state receiving special education and related services. However, in reality, the federal government is only giving the State approximately 8%. This shortfall severely hampers the efforts of the State to achieve full compliance with the orders of the consent decree by the December 2001 deadline, necessitating this emergency appropriation.

Your Committees have amended this measure by deleting the dollar amount of the appropriation.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1084, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1084, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.