STAND. COM. REP. NO. 975

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 544

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Higher Education and the Arts, to which was referred H.B. No. 544 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the University of Hawaii Board of Regents to study the feasibility of selling or leasing the building that houses the University of Hawaii Cancer Center.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawaii System and two individuals.

     Your Committee finds that the University of Hawaii Cancer Center serves an important role in sustaining cancer research in Hawaii.  However, given the concurrent decline in cigarette tax revenue and increase in operational expenses for the Cancer Center, there is a growing need to obtain a supplemental revenue source for the University of Hawaii Cancer Center.

     Your Committee further finds that the ideal revenue source for the University of Hawaii Cancer Center would be sustainable, such as additional general fund support or conversion of the building bond debt service to a general obligation bond backed by the general fund.  Another potential revenue source would be through the lease, partial lease, or sale of the physical structure of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, or through the lease or sale of the land.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting language requiring the Board of Regents to consider the alternatives of:

          (A)  Leasing or selling the University of Hawaii Cancer Center's underlying land; and

          (B)  Leasing or selling the physical structure of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, or leasing only a portion of the physical structure;

     (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 record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 544, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 544, 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 and the Arts,

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BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair