Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred H.R. No. 92 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to convene a House interim study group to identify guiding principles for statewide higher education policy that can be adopted and used to evaluate future higher education legislation.

Furthermore, this measure also requests the Legislative Reference Bureau to develop and apply an organizational framework to the higher education statutes in order to identify statutes that should be consolidated, amended, or repealed to conform with recent higher education policy initiatives for the purposes of recodification of the higher education statutes.

Your Committee finds that statutory recodification is more than a rearrangement or reorganization of existing statutes. It is also typically a technical "overhaul" of the statutory scheme on a given subject with efforts made to harmonize conflicting statutory provisions, fill in gaps in statutes that are not appropriately filled by rules, and otherwise repair statutory "disconnects". As a result, substantive changes made or recommended are typically in the nature of "housekeeping" changes.

Your Committee further finds that, ideally, recodification efforts should involve people who work with the affected statutes on a regular basis and who are aware of problems that have been encountered over the years in dealing with the statutes. Without significant input from these people, the Legislative Reference Bureau will not be able to produce a very meaningful recodification.

Your Committee also finds that the purpose of this measure appears to be headed simultaneously in very different directions. The goals of the study group would appear to be focused on significant policy and systemic changes, which are radically different concepts from recodification.

Therefore, upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure as follows:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 92, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Finance, in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 92, H.D. 1.