STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2285

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2550

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2550 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HIGHER EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to create a five-year pilot project at the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo to ensure the financial self-sufficiency of the College.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i Island Chamber of Commerce and five individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to the measure from the Department of the Attorney General.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the University of Hawai‘i System, Department of Budget and Finance, Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Friends of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, and two individuals.

     Your Committee finds that the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo (College of Pharmacy) should operate with financial and managerial autonomy from the University of Hawaii System.  This measure allows for this autonomy by creating a five-year pilot program that requires a determination in 2018 of whether the College of Pharmacy should be continued based on whether it is able to fiscally sustain its operations.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Removing language creating the Board of Governors of the College of Pharmacy;

     (2)  Adding language to clarify the University of Hawaii at Hilo College of Pharmacy special fund reporting requirements and allowing the University of Hawaii to report once a year rather than semi-annually;

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

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2550, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2550, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Higher Education,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair