STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2207

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2817

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2817 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII COLLEGE OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURE AND HUMAN RESOURCES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to the University of Hawaii to establish five administrative, professional, and technical full-time equivalent (5.0 APT FTE) positions at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawaiʻi System, University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, and Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau.

Your Committee finds that extension agents within the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources of the University of Hawaii at Manoa serve as a valuable bridge between their respective communities and innovative research breakthroughs in the agriculture industry. Agricultural producers work closely with extension agents, who provide agricultural technologies pertinent to the State's farmers and ranchers, including the production and development of biological and cultural methods for minimizing the use of chemicals in agriculture. However, the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources has experienced a decline in available staffing resources to support its mandate. Therefore, this measure provides increased staffing resources to support the development of new and existing agricultural practices statewide.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the five full-time equivalent (5.0 FTE) positions are faculty positions rather than administrative, technical, and professional positions;

(2) Changing the source of the appropriation from the University of Hawaii Tuition and Fees Special Fund to the general revenues of the State of Hawaii;

(3) Inserting language specifying that this measure addresses an issue of statewide concern; and

(4) 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. 2817, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2817, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair