STAND. COM. REP. NO 485

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 258

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Education and Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 258 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Require the Department of Education and Department of Accounting and General Services, in consultation with the Hawaii State Energy Office of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute of the University of Hawaii, to conduct a comprehensive study and develop a master strategy for the cooling of all public schools;

     (2)  Require the findings of the study to be reported to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2016;

     (3)  Appropriate funds to complete the comprehensive study and develop the master strategy for cooling all public schools; and

     (4)  Authorize the issuance of general obligation bonds and appropriate funds for projects that demonstrate efficient methods of cooling classrooms.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Hawaii State Teachers Association, IMUAlliance, and eighty-three individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and Department of Accounting and General Services.

     Your Committees find that students learn best in a comfortable environment.  Many of Hawaii's public schools are not equipped with air conditioning.  Some schools experience extreme classroom temperatures on a regular basis.  Students and teachers report that the heat is a distraction and an obstacle to learning.

     Your Committees further find that the costs of installing, maintaining, and supplying electricity for air conditioning in all public schools are very high.  Therefore, planning and creative solutions are necessary to ensure that each facility's unique circumstances are accommodated.  It is important that the comprehensive study considers all factors that contribute to classroom temperatures including but not limited to, landscaping, painting, and architectural features.  Various forms of heat abatement should be incorporated into the master strategy for cooling all public school facilities.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Removing all references to the Department of Accounting and General Services;

     (2)  Clarifying that the study shall look at applicable electrical and environmental standards governing the use of equipment to facilitate ideal room temperatures and other factors relevant to the Legislature's consideration of the Department of Education's proposals for funding the master strategy for cooling all public school facilities;

     (3)  Adding language permitting the comprehensive study to be conducted in coordination with other infrastructure studies to avoid duplication and ensure that plans for cooling are made in conjunction with plans for energy-efficiency projects, deferred maintenance, and facilities upgrades;

     (4)  Clarifying that the issuance of general obligation bonds is for the purpose of funding projects that demonstrate efficient methods of cooling classrooms rather than only for air conditioning; and

     (5)  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 Education and Energy and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 258, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 258, 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 Energy and Environment,

____________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

____________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair