RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, section 84-17(c)(9), Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires that 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 must annually file a disclosure of financial interest statement with the state Ethics Commission; and

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

WHEREAS, in the recent past, there have been numerous occurrences of potential and actual conflicts of interest that have arisen during University of Hawaii Board of Regent proceedings; and

WHEREAS, for example, during the 2003-2004 biennium, it was reported in local newspapers that:

WHEREAS, it was recently reported in a local newspaper that the Board of Regents chairwoman recused herself from decisions selecting developers for more than $150,000,000 in construction contracts, citing conflicts of interest with developers bidding for the projects; and

WHEREAS, even though Regents may recuse themselves from voting, a question still remains as to whether a Regent with a declared conflict of interest should be allowed to participate in discussions regarding an issue in which the Regent may have an interest up until a formal vote is taken, in view of the fact that the Regent's presence during the discussion may still influence their fellow Regents' decisions; and

WHEREAS, in addition to these incidents, in 2004, a team sent by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC Senior) to evaluate the University of Hawaii's accreditation and reorganization status reported that among the critical problems that "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," was that, among other things, the primary focus of the Board of Regents is not policy making and oversight of management; rather, it is primarily focused on its problems with . . . conflict of interest issues and is generally underdeveloped in addressing the impact of different campus missions; and

WHEREAS, if the University of Hawaii Regents' financial disclosure statements were made part of the public record, such an action may curtail the need for the Board of Regents to expend an inordinate amount of its time deliberating over conflicts of interest issues; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Auditor is requested to review 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 Regents of the University of Hawaii should have their financial disclosure statements that are required under section 84-17, Hawaii Revised Statutes, be made available for review by the public; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor is requested to submit a report on any findings and recommendations to the Legislature not 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 University of Hawaii Board of Regents.

Report Title:

Auditor Review; UH Board of Regents' Conflict of Interest Policy