STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2594

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2865

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Higher Education and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2865 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE INSTITUTE FOR ASTRONOMY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to transfer administrative authority, personnel, and facilities for the University of Hawai‘i Institute for Astronomy currently located at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa to the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Leeward Planning Conference and ten individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the University of Hawai‘i System, University of Hawai‘i Professional Assembly, and four individuals.

Your Committees find that the University of Hawai‘i Institute for Astronomy has facilities on Mauna Kea and Haleakala and in Manoa Valley. Although the majority of the Institute's approximately two hundred employees are located at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa on Oahu, the majority of the Institute's facilities and equipment are located on Mauna Kea on Hawai‘i Island, the most productive astronomy site in the world. Since the University of Hawai‘i is one of the most significant economic drivers in the State and is the State's leading engine for economic growth and diversification, transferring administrative authority, personnel, and all facilities for the Institute for Astronomy currently located at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa to the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo will support and grow industries in Hawai‘i County.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that this measure shall be known and may be cited as the "Paul H.I. Coleman Act";

(2) Renaming the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy as the "Paul H.I. Coleman Astronomy Center";

(3) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2020; and

(4) 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 Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2865, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2865, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Higher Education and Ways and Means,

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

________________________________ KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair