STAND. COM. REP. NO. 256

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1219

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 1219 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to remove the sunset provision of Act 39, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017 (Act 39), thereby making the Innovation and Commercialization Initiative Program at the University of Hawaii permanent.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawai‘i System and Hawaii Business Roundtable.

Your Committee finds that Act 39 provided the University of Hawaii with express statutory authority to enable and facilitate the deployment of university educational and instructional resources, university managerial and fiscal resources, and university personnel to promote the economic health and diversification of workforce opportunities in the State through the commercialization of inventions and discoveries generated by or at the University of Hawaii. With Act 39, the Innovation and Commercialization Initiative Program was established within the University of Hawaii under sections 304A-1951 through 1959, Hawaii Revised Statutes. Under Act 39, this authority is set to be repealed on June 30, 2021.

Your Committee finds that the University of Hawaii, as the only public system of higher education in the State, plays a critical role in diversifying Hawaii's economy by promoting research, discovery, and commercial innovation. For the University to remain competitive, it is imperative that it has a strong and comprehensive research program with the capacity to support commercial innovation. Your Committee believes that it is in the interest of the State to allow the efforts of the University's Innovation and Commercialization Initiative Program, which is still in its early stages, to continue to attain its goal of promoting the State's economic health and diversification of workforce opportunities.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Extending the sunset date of Act 39 by three years, to June 30, 2024; and

(2) 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. 1219, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1219, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

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DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair