STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3644

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.R. No. 29

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred S.R. No. 29 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII - WEST OAHU TO REOPEN THEIR PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT HILO TO PROVIDE A PRE-NURSING PATHWAY FOR STUDENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the University of Hawaii – West Oahu to reopen their partnership with the University of Hawaii at Hilo to provide a pre-nursing pathway for students.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the University of Hawai‘i System and Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing.

Your Committee finds that in the fall of 2015, the University of Hawaii – West Oahu partnered with the University of Hawaii at Hilo to launch the Ike Mauli Ola program, an innovative new pathway for students interested in pursuing a career in nursing. However, the program was canceled in 2017, which limited nursing pathways for students residing in central and west Oahu. While students located in central and west Oahu may attend Leeward Community College for the associate's in nursing degree program, students who wish to continue their education at the bachelor's degree level must attend institutions located in urban Honolulu such as the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The long commute from central and west Oahu to Manoa may inhibit some students from pursuing their educational and professional goals. Additionally, the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted the State's significant nurse shortage, and more nurses would have likely been trained and available during the COVID-19 pandemic to assist communities in central and west Oahu. As Hawaii continues to recover from the nursing shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic, providing greater access to nursing education may motivate more students residing outside of urban Honolulu to pursue careers in nursing.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language that requests the University of Hawaii – West Oahu to establish a nursing program or seek other partners to develop a nursing program at the West Oahu campus;

(2) Amending its title; and

(3) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment 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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 29, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 29, S.D. 1.

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

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DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair