STAND. COM. REP. NO. 282

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 608

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Education and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 608 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the establishment of a statewide web-based interactive searchable database for the provision of workforce training information.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Education, the University of Hawaii, and the Workforce Development Council.

     Your Committees find that the future of our State is dependent upon the growth of a knowledgeable and qualified workforce.  Efforts to grow such a workforce must include comprehensive measures for providing access to information on the workforce training needs of employers and the availability of programs and courses to meet those and other training needs.  This measure seeks to address the needs of employers, employees, and workforce training providers by facilitating the receipt and transmission of relevant information for the support and development of a qualified workforce in Hawaii.

     Testimony provided indicated that an existing system, Hawaii Resource Exchange, a web-based system that is maintained pursuant to a collaborative effort of the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii, may already provide similar information and resources or may be able to support the type of information contemplated under the current measure.  Your Committees believe that the Hawaii Resource Exchange system may be an appropriate alternative to the creation of a new system and that the diversion of funding, if necessary, may also be appropriate.  However, your Committees determine that this measure warrants further consideration and believe that as the measure proceeds through the session, the interested parties should work together to determine the appropriate system and the true funding needs to support the system.

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying the language regarding the purpose of the measure to indicate that a statewide web-based interactive searchable database should be established to provide comprehensive workforce training information to employers, employees, and training providers; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 608, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 608, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair

____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair