CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 45

Honolulu, Hawaii

                 , 2015

RE:    H.B. No. 775

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

       C.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir and Madam:

     Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the House of Representatives to the amendments proposed by the Senate in H.B. No. 775, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

     The purpose of this measure is to increase the economic benefits realized from international student enrollment at Hawaii's institutions of higher learning by appropriating funds to the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism for:

     (1)  Marketing Hawaii and Hawaii's institutions of higher learning to attract international students; and

     (2)  Travel and other recruitment expenses related to the marketing of Hawaii as an international education destination.

     Hawaii's unique history, optimal geographic placement between the United States and Asia, and globally ranked programs of higher education have all served as factors in establishing Hawaii as a major destination of choice for international students seeking to further their education.  Over the past several years, however, Hawaii has been losing ground to other states in the attraction of international students, particularly students from Asia.  According to the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, while the rest of the United States has experienced an approximately 13 percent growth in international student enrollment over the past three years, Hawaii has experienced an 11 percent decline over the same period.

     While the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism markets Hawaii as an educational location for overseas study, the breadth of this marketing strategy has been diminished from a lack of appropriate funding.  As it is estimated by the Department that an increase of 10 percent in the number of international students studying in Hawaii would result in a concomitant increase in state tax revenues of approximately $16,000,000, your Committee on Conference finds that it is prudent to appropriate funds to market Hawaii to international students as an educational destination.

     Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Appropriating $250,000 for Fiscal Year 2015-2016 to the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to market Hawaii and Hawaii's institutions of higher education to international students; and

     (2)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2015.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 775, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 775, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

____________________________ GILBERT KAHELE, Chair	____________________________ DEREK S.K. KAWAKAMI, Co-Chair
____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Co-Chair	____________________________ ISAAC W. CHOY, Co-Chair
	____________________________ SCOTT Y. NISHIMOTO, Co-Chair