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 S.C.R. No. 85 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request the Auditor to review the University of Hawaii Board of Regents' policy on conflict of interest, and recommend whether the Regents should have their financial disclosure statements, required under section 84-17, Hawaii Revised Statutes, be made available for review by the public.

Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by three individuals. The University of Hawaii opposed the measure.

Your Committee finds that although individual Regents may have recused themselves from decision-making because of conflicts of interest, the public is unable to determine whether other conflicts of interest may have existed when decisions were made. Mere recusal does not resolve the issue of conflict in a satisfactory manner. Accordingly, your Committee finds that the Board of Regents should not be less accountable than senior officials of the University. Your Committee further finds that public disclosure of the financial statements of individual Regents would be consistent with the statutory requirement currently applied to members of the Board of Education and the trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

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 S.C.R. No. 85 and recommends its adoption.