RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, section 84-17(c)(9), Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), requires the members of every state board and commission whose original terms of office are for periods exceeding one year and whose functions are not solely advisory, to file annually a disclosure statement of financial interest with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission; and

WHEREAS, although section 84-17(d)(4), HRS, requires that the financial disclosure statements of the president, vice presidents, assistant vice presidents, chancellors, and the provosts of the University of Hawaii be made part of the public record, no such requirement is imposed on the University of Hawaii Board of Regents (BOR); and

WHEREAS, in the recent past, numerous occurrences of actual and potential conflicts of interest have arisen during proceedings of the BOR; and

WHEREAS, even though members of the BOR may excuse themselves from voting, a question still remains as to whether a member with a declared conflict of interest should be allowed to participate in discussions regarding an issue in which the member may have an interest, because the member's presence during the discussion may still influence the decisions of fellow members; and

WHEREAS, in 2004 a team was sent by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) to evaluate the University of Hawaii's accreditation and reorganization status; and

WHEREAS, the WASC team found that several critical problems "threaten the long-term achievement of the stated aspirations and, importantly, from the perspective of WASC, raise significant issues of the performance of the University under the Standards of Accreditation and threatens the continued accreditation of the senior college campuses," and one of these problems was the primary focus of the BOR not on policy making and oversight of management, but rather on problems involving conflict of interest issues; and

WHEREAS, making the financial disclosure statements of members of the BOR part of the public record may curtail the need for BOR members to spend an inordinate amount of time deliberating conflict of interest issues; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the Senate concurring, that the Auditor is requested to review and evaluate the University of Hawaii Board of Regents' conflict of interest policy; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to make a recommendation on whether the financial disclosure statements of the members of the BOR, required under section 84-17, HRS, should be made available for review by the public; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to submit a report of any findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor and the members of the University of Hawaii Board of Regents.

Report Title:

REQUESTING A REVIEW AND EVALUATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII BOARD OF REGENTS' CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY