STAND. COM. REP. NO. 209

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1518

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 1518 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide procurement exemptions for the Department of Education for certain goods, services, and construction.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the State Procurement Office.

Your Committee finds that the Department of Education is the largest department in the State with two hundred ninety-five schools and forty-two thousand salaried and part-time employees, which must procure numerous goods, services, and construction to run its operations. Presently, the Department of Education is mandated to comply with procurement laws for its purchases depending on certain threshold amounts. However, school administrators seeking to address repair and maintenance backlogs face delays and difficulties from the mandated use of the Department of Education's electronic procurement system. To ensure efficiency in Department of Education operations, abbreviating certain small purchase procurement requirements for the Department of Education will allow the Department to procure necessary goods and services and construction in a more timely manner.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that Department of Education expenditures less than $50,000 for goods and services and less than $125,000 for construction shall be subject to administrative rules of the State Procurement Office; 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 Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1518, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1518, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair