STAND. COM. REP. NO. 380

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 623

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 623 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TUITION ASSISTANCE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to broaden the eligibility for tuition assistance provided to National Guard members by:

     (1)  Enabling all officers, not just Second Lieutenants through Captains, to be eligible for tuition assistance; and

     (2)  Allowing tuition assistance to be used for any degree, not just an undergraduate degree, offered by the University of Hawaii.

     The measure also establishes that students who are members of the Hawaii National Guard and who are working toward an undergraduate degree must receive priority consideration for tuition assistance from the University of Hawaii.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the State Adjutant General.  Written testimony presented to the Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committees find that this measure would broaden the scope of the tuition assistance to members of the Hawaii National Guard by including all commissioned officers rather than only officers in the grade 01 (Second Lieutenant) to grade 03 (Captain), and provide a more diverse post secondary education opportunity for National Guard members.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Higher Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 623 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and Higher Education,

____________________________ JILL TOKUDA, Chair

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair