STAND. COM. REP. NO. 111-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: H.B. No. 1616

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1616 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIRE ALARMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of Education to report to the Legislature annually on the installation, repair, and maintenance of fire alarms in Hawaii's public schools; and

(2) Appropriate funds for fire alarm repair and maintenance in public schools.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education; Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association; Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi; and Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi Education Caucus.

Your Committee finds that properly functioning fire alarm systems are essential for public school safety. As facilities age, the impact of fires becomes increasingly severe. According to the Department of Education, as of 2022, the average age of public school buildings in Hawaii was seventy‑two years. Furthermore, approximately twenty percent of Hawaii's two hundred fifty‑seven public schools are more than one hundred years old. Your Committee believes that annual reporting on the installation, repair, and maintenance of fire alarms in public schools will ensure that the fire alarms of school facilities are regularly inspected.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the Department of Education to include in its report the project completion date of fire alarm systems installed and repaired at public schools in the preceding fiscal year;

(2) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount; and

(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000.

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $25,000,000.

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. 1616, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1616, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

JUSTIN H. WOODSON, Chair