STAND. COM. REP. NO. 423

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1384

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Higher Education and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1384 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Limit the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii (Board) to appointing one General Counsel;

     (2)  Require the Board to have direct oversight over the General Counsel and prohibit the Board from delegating this responsibility to the University of Hawaii President;

     (3)  Require the General Counsel to report directly to the Board;

     (4)  Allow the Board to contract with independent attorneys only where the General Counsel and Attorney General each acknowledge a lack of sufficient expertise; and

     (5)  Require contracted attorneys to consult with and work in conjunction with the Attorney General.

     Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Board of Regents and University of Hawai‘i System.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly.

     Your Committees find that concerns have been raised about the amount of money that the University of Hawaii has spent on contracts with outside legal counsel.  Your Committees find that outside counsel should be reserved for cases where the General Counsel and the Attorney General lack the expertise necessary to represent the University of Hawaii.

     As this measure moves forward, your Committees request your Committee on Ways and Means to consider:

     (1)  Removing all line items in the University of Hawaii budget for attorneys within the Office of the General Counsel, expect for the General Counsel position; and

     (2)  Transferring any attorneys currently serving within the Office of the General Counsel to the Department of the Attorney General on the effective date of this measure.

     In considering the transfer of any attorney currently serving within the Office of General Counsel to the Department of the Attorney General, your Committees clarify that this transfer is not intended to be a lateral transfer of the employee but rather a transfer of responsibilities of the attorneys within the Office of the General Counsel to the Department of the Attorney General.

     Your Committees also note that the General Counsel oversees seven attorneys and is paid an annual salary of $235,248.  In comparison, the Attorney General, who oversees approximately 185 attorneys within the Department of the Attorney General, is paid an annual salary of $120,442.

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that the Board is authorized to fix the compensation of the one attorney serving as General Counsel at a salary not exceeding the salary of the Attorney General;

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Higher 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. 1384, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1384, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair

____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair