STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2342

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2186

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2186 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOL LAND TRANSFER,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Direct the conveyance to the Department of Education of certain lands used for public schools and owned by the counties of Kauai and Maui, the State, and the Department of Land and Natural Resources;

(2) Require legislative approval prior to the sale, gift, or alienation of the fee simple title to lands owned by the Department of Education; and

(3) Appropriate funds to the Department of Education to effectuate conveyances and manage real property.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committees find that non-unified ownership of the land under existing Department of Education schools and offices complicates redevelopment, especially when private investment is involved. This has resulted in delays in the permitting and delivery of vital capital improvements throughout the public school system.

Your Committees further find that previous legislation transferred to the Department of Education title to certain public school lands. The intent of this measure is to transfer and consolidate the remainder.

Accordingly, your Committees finds that, to provide the Department of Education with the requisite flexibility to redevelop, reposition, and improve its assets in a timely and efficient manner, sole ownership of all land under existing public schools should be consolidated and held by the Department of Education. Your Committees further find that this will benefit students and improve educational outcomes by facilitating the development and improvement of public school assets in the State.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the list of properties to be transferred under section 2, in accordance with the recommendations of the Department of Education; and

(2) 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 Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2186, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2186, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Water and Land,

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair