STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3150

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 3158

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 3158, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate $84,000,000 to the University of Hawaii for utility, repair, and maintenance expenses of the University of Hawaii and its community colleges.

Your Committee circulated a proposed S.D. 1 version of the measure that deleted the substantive provisions of the measure and inserted provisions that provided appropriations to various programs of the University of Hawaii that directly benefit Hawaiian students and other students who are interested in Hawaiian programs.

Specifically, the proposed S.D. 1 appropriated funds to the following programs:

(1) Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies within the School of Hawaiian, Asian, & Pacific Studies for two full time equivalent positions ($95,000);

(2) Kawaihuelani Hawaiian Language Department within the University of Hawaii College of Languages, Linguistics, and Literature for two full time equivalent positions ($95,000);

(3) Hawaiian Engineering within the University of Hawaii College of Engineering for one full time equivalent position ($54,000);

(4) Indigenous Politics within the University of Hawaii College of Arts and Science for one full time equivalent position ($54,000);

(5) Ka Papa Lo‘i o Kānewai within the University of Hawaii School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies for one full time equivalent position ($41,000);

(6) Establish a master of arts degree in Hawaiian Studies within the University of Hawaii School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies for two and one-half full time equivalent positions ($173,812);

(7) Haumana Biosciences Research within the Pacific Biosciences Research Center for three full time equivalent positions ($200,000);

(8) ‘Ike Ao Pono Nursing within the University of Hawaii School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene for one full time equivalent position ($60,500); and

(9) ‘Imi Ho‘ōla JABSOM Premedical within the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine for four full time equivalent positions ($245,000).

Your Committee received testimony in support of the proposed S.D. 1 from the University of Hawaii and over thirty private citizens.

As a part of the Ku Ali‘i Council's supportive testimony, the Council requested that two additional programs be funded in the measure. These programs are:

(1) The University of Hawaii College of Education's Ho‘okulaiwi Hawaiian Teacher Education Program so that Ho‘okulaiwi could add another cohort of twenty-two students per year, and eventually graduate sixty-six students a year who could teach in the Department of Education Hawaiian Immersion schools, English medium Hawaiian charter schools, or in any public school, especially where a large Hawaiian student population exists; and

(2) The University of Hawaii School for Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies' Kuali‘i Native Hawaiian Student Services program ($160,490 to fund four full time equivalent positions) so that can service the 6,828 native Hawaiian students in the entire University of Hawaii system as well as the 1,644 native Hawaiian students at the Manoa campus. Currently, there is only one full time equivalent position at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to support all of these students.

While your Committee did not include the two program appropriations requested by the Ku Ali‘i Council, your Committee has amended the proposed S.D. 1 by adding an additional appropriation to the measure for the Ho‘okulaiwi Hawaiian Teacher Education Program within the University of Hawaii College of Education. The amount appropriated for this program is $144,500 to fund three full time equivalent positions.

In the testimony provided by the University of Hawaii, the University stated that the programs included in the proposed S.D. 1 represent the University's top priorities for its Hawaiian culture- and language-related programs. While your Committee is supportive of the programs for which the Ku Ali‘i Council requested funds, your Committee believes that they do not rise to the level of priority of those programs contained in the amended proposed S.D. 1. However, your Committee respectfully requests that the Committee on Ways and Means seriously consider funding these two programs, should funding become available.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 3158, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 3158, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Higher Education,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair