Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 784, H.D. 2, entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require cable franchise fees paid in connection with the provision of cable service in the County of Maui to be distributed in thirds to Maui Community College and the Department of Education, the County of Maui, and Maui's public, educational, and governmental (PEG) access entity.

This measure also appropriates funds for the infrastructure upgrades to telecommunications systems within the Department of Education.

The Department of Education (DOE)-Maui, Maui Community College (MCC), and two individuals presented testimony in support of this measure. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA), Akaku: Maui Community Television (Akaku), the League of Women Voters of Hawaii, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii Chapter, the Alliance for Community Media, Olelo Community Television, and three individuals presented testimony in opposition to this measure.

In 1983, MCC initially began distance learning services on cable television. Subsequently, SkyBridge was built through a federal grant linking Moloka`i, Lanai, and Hana to the MCC campus in Kahului with live two-way video. The DCCA established the Maui PEG Planning Committee in 1989, comprised of MCC, the DOE, the County of Maui, and non-profit agency representatives. Later, in 1992, the DCCA established the Maui PEG Consortium as an advisory board for distribution of PEG franchise fees and a public channel was started on Maui. The Maui PEG Consortium was then dissolved in 1997 and Akaku became the agency for PEG management on Maui. In 1998, Akaku entered into negotiations with MCC and DOE-Maui wherein an agreement was reached that ensured the distribution of one-third of the total funds available for education to MCC and DOE-Maui.

In the formal agreement between DCCA and Akaku, which became effective in 1999, Akaku was designated as the PEG access entity for the County of Maui. The agreement also memorialized the understanding that MCC and the DOE-Maui, through agreements with Akaku, would be responsible for their own educational access programming, and the management and operation of access facilities and equipment. Additionally, this agreement indicated that Akaku was required to provide financial resources for educational access, as well as the reporting requirements for educational access under the agreement.

Your Committees find that over the years, funding received by public and higher education institutions in the County of Maui to provide educational access programming on cable television has declined to the point of being eliminated. While funding for educational access programming averaged twenty-nine per cent of franchise fees during the period of 1993 to 1999, allowing MCC and DOE-Maui to provide distance education and outreach services, after the establishment of the County's PEG access organization, funding dropped to fifteen per cent and was discontinued by 2000. In 2003, the access organization's board of directors voted to cease providing operating funds for any state agency, including MCC and DOE-Maui.

The cessation of funding for educational access programming has led to a reduction in staff and operations, and in the quality of services and instruction provided to residents throughout the County. MCC has been unable to meet the increasing demand for distance learning services and to upgrade physical plant operations, and plans for studio facilities on Maui's West Side have come to a standstill.

This measure proposes to restore distribution of PEG financial resources for the educational component of PEG programming by providing that the fees collected by the cable provider in Maui County be allocated equally among public, educational, and governmental access programming. Although there is a long history regarding this issue and resolution is much overdue, your Committees believe that this measure has provided a catalyst for encouraging active negotiations between the parties. Your Committees further believe that progress in negotiations has been made and that continued movement of this measure throughout the session will continue to facilitate progress and eventually result in the successful resolution of the issues involved.

Finally, your Committees believe that technology plays an important role in the education of our students and supports efforts to increase access to technology in the learning environment. This measure also provides for the appropriation of funds to assist the DOE in upgrading its telecommunications systems infrastructure to allow our students to benefit from the increased utilization of technology in the schools.

Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 784, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 784, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.