STAND. COM. REP. NO. 162

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2021

RE: H.B. No. 1223

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1223 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require the State Board for Career and Technical Education to:

(A) Oversee and review annually the statewide data collection processes, reporting requirements, and business rules related to the student attainment of industry-recognized credentials; and

(B) Report to the Governor and the Legislature on students' attainment of industry-recognized credentials; and

(2) Require all state agencies that administer educational or training courses that lead to, provide, or otherwise align with the attainment of an industry-recognized credential to collect and report certain categories of data.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Hawaii P-20 Partnerships for Education, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, HawaiiKidsCAN, and two individuals. Your Committee received testimony in support of the intent of this measure from the Department of Education and University of Hawai‘i System. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that in the current job market, nearly sixty-five percent of available positions require postsecondary credentials. Industry‑recognized credentials are important because they teach the specific knowledge and skills required for an occupation or industry and provide full-time employees with industry credentials with more earnings than their uncredentialed counterparts. Your Committee further finds that Hawaii has critical shortages of qualified local workers in sectors including health, education, air travel, and technology. The Promising Credentials project was launched as a collaborative effort aimed at using Hawaii labor market data and local employer insights to identify high-value industry credentials in the State. This measure will help to break down the data collected by credential and have the data be consistently collected and reported by state agencies.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the State Board for Career and Technical Education to begin reporting on students' attainment of industry-recognized credentials to the Governor and Legislature on July 1, 2023, rather than on July 1, 2022;

(2) Requiring that all data collection and reporting activity required by this measure be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable federal and state laws governing the privacy and confidentiality of such data;

(3) Changing its effective date to July 1, 2050; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committee notes that the amendment to this measure requiring all data collection and reporting activity to be conducted in a manner consistent with applicable federal and state laws governing the privacy and confidentiality of such data is recommended by the Department of the Attorney General to ensure that this measure does not inadvertently violate applicable state and federal laws governing the privacy or confidentiality of personally identifiable information from education records, wage data, and employment data.

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 H.B. No. 1223, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1223, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

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

____________________________

JUSTIN H. WOODSON, Chair