House Standing Committee on Higher Education

All right. Good afternoon, everyone. We are now convening the House Committee on Higher Education. It is Friday, February 520255 minutes after 2pm and we are here, not at the State Capitol, but at beautiful Bachmann Hall. I'm really excited to have the hearing on campus today.

This is really a special moment for me, not just because we're bringing the legislative process directly to the University, but as a proud UH alumnus, I would have never imagined that one day I'd be here, not as a student, but as a Legislator, hosting an official hearing.

I want to extend a huge mahalo to the IT staff of both the State House and the UH for their hard work in making today's hearing possible. Their efforts ensure that we can engage with the University community in a meaningful way and continue important discussions about the future of higher education in Hawaii.

So mahalo to everyone who's joining us here today, both in person and via ZOOM Members. Before we begin on our agenda with 11 items, just a few housekeeping announcements. Restrooms are right out the door and to the right, and these microphones require us to hit the button.

So once you see this red light turn on, that means it's on. When you're done, you can hit it. So before we begin, just wanted to acknowledge the heavy hitters from the University that are in the room today. First of all, of course, President Wendy Hensel. Would you mind coming up and just saying a few words?

Aloha.

Aloha.

So I have to agree with you, Representative Garrett. There's something special about coming back to. Your Alma mater in a position where. You can do good for the people at the University. And I particularly appreciate that you all are here today. You have in your hands the power to assist or to harm the people in the room.

And so it is important that we spend time together in our place so that you know how important we are. To the state and hopefully to the Legislature as well. So it's really a huge mahalo from. Me to say thank you for taking the time. I know it's logistically challenging to move.

Everything, but it's very special to us that you would come to our space, and we welcome you with open arms here. So thank you.

Thank you for having us today. Okay, so with that Members, we'll go to our agenda. First up today is House Bill 542 relating to the University of Hawaii Promise Program.

This Bill expands the Hawaii Promise Program to provide scholarships for the unmet needs of qualified students at any four year University of Hawaii campus who meets certain criteria and appropriates funds. First, we have the University of Hawaii system testifying in support. BP Halbert.

Good afternoon. Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, thanks. I'd like to echo President Hensel's thanks for you coming here to be with us. We of course for this bill stand on our written testimony.

I would highlight that we have added to the end of this testimony a possible alternative which would be to look at transfer opportunities for the two year to the four year as part of the refined Hawaii promise. But please feel free to ask answer. I'll be free to answer any questions that you might have. Thanks.

Okay, thank you very much. Up next, University of Hawaii Professional Assembly not present. Okay. Testifying in support. Up next, the University of Hawaii Student Caucus. Ronald Sturgis. Chair, testifying in support.

Aloha. Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee on Higher Education, My name is Ronald Sturgis. I am here testifying on behalf the University of Hawaii Student Caucus. I am the current chair of the University of Hawaii Student Caucus.

We are the representative organization for the some 50 odd thousand University of Hawaii students here and we are here in support, strong support of House Bill 542 to extend Hawai'I promise to the four year universities.

Firstly, as many of us here in this room may know, cost is a huge barrier to education, especially here in Hawaii where cost of everything is just rising daily. And so anything that can help aid that issue with the rising costs is going to be a massive benefit to our students and prospective students alike.

Secondly, Hawaii needs skilled workers, skilled and educated workers. It's no surprise that our job market has been suffering some serious issues with the mass exodus of working age adults to the mainland or other places to find more affordable opportunities for both education, housing and easier work.

So by helping lower at least one of those barriers, we can help keep more people inside the state working, living and learning. Lastly, this is an investment in our future. Let's be real here. This is where the future leaders are going to come from.

Future people who will be one day sitting on this table with some of you or who may end up taking your seat in however many years. Hey, I'm not that ambitious, don't worry. But this is the future. This is where we build it.

And it's time we start really recognizing that by putting that investment into these seeds that will grow into beautiful, beautiful lehuas. That was trying to be funny.

Anyway, I really hope you guys consider supporting 542 and what it means to the University, what it means to a student like me and to the Students who will see this recording at some point in their lives, thank you. Mahalo. I'm also available for questions.

Thank you. Very well said. Up next, Angelica Somara. I have to say this is the coolest part. Having actual students come to testify and join us today.

Okay, I'm short. I'm sorry. Anyway, Aloha chair. Aloha Vice Chair and Members of the Committee, mahalo for the opportunity to provide testimony. My name is Angelica Samara and I am a student at Honolulu Community College. I am submitting this testimony in strong support of House Bill 542.

The cost of attendance stands as a substantial barrier to higher education. Many students, including myself, rely on financial assistance to pursue our academic endeavors without taking on financial debt or working a multitude of jobs that may interfere with our studies. Without financial support, I can confidently say that I would not be able to pursue a higher education.

And I am sure a plethora of fellow students in need of assistance share this burden. I am raised from a Low income family. My parents dreamed of being able to comfortably pay for me and my sister's college. But the financial hardships stood like an unyielding wall between us and their wishes.

So I am set in my resolve to graduate without debt and standing on my own feet. Rather than relying on my parents who have already given more than their share of sacrifice. I can confidently say that I will take advantage of the scholarship as I move forward to a four year college to achieve my bachelor's and beyond.

Supporting individual students, investing in this scholarship is an investment towards Hawaii's future. This scholarship has shown to increase student credit completion and student graduation rate at the community college level. And I have no doubt that it'll pave the same path for those pursuing a four year degree.

This scholarship opens the door to higher education, making college more accessible. As more students pursue their academic dreams, we can shape a skilled workforce. One that strengthens Hawaii and helps our island thrive. I humbly ask the Committee to vote favor of this bill. Thank you very much for your time and I am open for any questions.

Thank you very much. Okay. Members, please also know we have another testimony of support from an individual. Is there anyone in the room wishing to testify? Anyone? Via Zoom Seeing? None. Members, any questions? House Bill 542. Yes, Representative Kila is there.

They may not testify, but is there anybody from the University financial aid office able to answer a question? Anyone familiar with financial aid on behalf of University?

I'm not sure I can answer your questions. We also have Associate Vice President Farrah Marie Gomes. On zoom. And so she may also be able to answer some questions about jobs.

Do you mind lifting your microphone up just a little, please? Perfect.

I think my question now is, so when we think about expanding the Hawaii Promise Program to other students, is there data that you folks have available that students who are receiving the Hawaii Promise Program now in the sense, I mean we don't need their names, but are they these folks that are 100% unmet need Pell Grant eligible?

Are they independent or even emancipated from their families so that they're able to access other different loans? Do you folks have that data?

That would be a question for the community colleges because of course they're the ones that are running the two year program. I think that the answer is it could be all of the above and at the two year level, some of the students who would be helped are not. The Pell Grant would cover tuition, right?

Because the Pell is enough to cover the CC tuition. But there would be then this question of indirect costs. So there's some tension between the direct cost covered by the two year program and indirect cost, which is a more comprehensive view of what total cost of attendance is.

Okay, then maybe that's a good framework for my next question. If this was implemented at the University level, do you folks have potential data impact right now that how many students would actually be able to expend or qualify for that unmet need for the four year campuses?

Yes, yes, we do have that data. And so I can give it to you, I can give you data for all of the different campuses if that's possible.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Representative Kila. Members, any other questions? Yes, Rep. Woodson,

Absolutely.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, University of Hawaii, thank you again for being here. And so it was alluded to by. One of the testifiers, but do you as a University have any data or metrics that demonstrate that students that participate in last dollar programs actually have an increased return on graduation rates?

We don't. How would we put that? We have done studies on return on investment for degree people who achieve a degree from the University of Hawaii. We didn't match those to people who did last dollar Pell Grant or Pell Grant eligible.

However, in the analysis of the return on investment for the degrees that you get from the University of Hawaii, one of the findings was that those individuals who are from the lowest socioeconomic groups found similar rates of postgraduate return as everyone else. So ultimately breaking cycles of poverty and achieving a far better income over time.

So if you think about it in terms of how that would impact students who are Pell eligible going to college for especially the degrees that end with culminate in a Bachelor's degree or an associate of science degree, it would ultimately impact them in a positive way. But it's not a one to one Coral.

I mean it's not a one to one causality. Right. We can show you over time that that is the case and send you the study if you haven't seen it. It's really interesting.

Yeah, please do. If you can send it to Chair, thank you for that. And just a follow up, Mr. Chairman, is there any direct positive correlations between. Those students that participate in these types. Of programs and increase graduation rates directly?

I'm sorry, could you, could you repeat your question?

I'm sorry, Is there a, any studies of direct positive correlations between students that participate in these last dollar programs and increase graduation rates?

Yes, and the two year report that you is. Is submitted annually does include all of that data. And so I can't. The phone here is a little small, but we can, we can show that and we can send you those reports if you have. Thank you so much.

Thank you Chair.

Thank you. Rep. Woodson. Rep. Kapela.

The light's not red, is it? zero, on the very top. Okay. I'm curious about how many students are. We losing by not allowing this, not expanding? How many students that want to be able to come to the four year University setting from the community colleges as outlined so beautifully by some of our earlier testifiers? Ms.

Amera, I'm just curious how many students we're losing by not implementing something like this.

It's always hard to prove the counterfactual because we don't know what we're losing in the sense that we don't know what they would have planned to do. But we do know that 10% of the Hawaii Promise students currently transfer.

We know that if they do choose to go onto a four year degree, it is far more expensive than it would be to once they finish their community college.

I would anticipate that if we were able to expand to the four years, we would see the numbers of students interested in transferring and completing their education at a four year two increase.

What we have done in the data which we'll be providing is to look simply at the students who are already at four year institutions who would be eligible for the program. And that was what we used to base our anticipated cost on. So it's hard to prove who would have done something had they had the opportunity.

But if that makes sense built into the Hawaii Promise Program currently. Is there any follow up on the. Participants who utilize the program that as. They exit the program from community college, if they've graduated or not, if they would have chosen? Because I think that's a really good. Way to get that question.

Yeah, I don't think we do any exit surveys in terms of what they would have done had they had access to this. But we do have information about the graduation rates and the success rates of students who are in Hawaii Promise, and it is all overwhelmingly positive.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Rep. Capella, just one question for me before we proceed. I know in your testimony, and you said yourself, you know, one potential compromise is to look at limiting the pool of eligible applicants for this, and in your testimony you say this Bill has a potential to reach nearly 5,000 students.

If we were to narrow the scope, which candidly I'm not willing to concede at this point, what would that number look like from 5000? What would it go down to?

Well, and thank you for not willing to concede that point because I do believe that there is enormous benefit in continuing to look at the four years more comprehensively. But as I was just noting about, there's about 3,000, a little over 3,000 students who have accepted Hawai'I promise at the community colleges.

So 10% of those have transferred into a four year campus. So that's around what we're looking at. It's a far smaller number of course then. But I would also say that we will probably see enhanced numbers of transfer if we were to have a four year promise.

Okay. And I believe the approximate price tag for the full expansion is about 12 million.

Yes. And that's if you include the number of potential eligible students across all of the four year campuses. So there's a breakdown and when we provide the data, we can provide the breakdown by campus.

Okay. And again, not willing to concede this narrower scope, but if we did do that, how much would that cost?

I can do the math for you. I can't do the math for you right here, but we can get you that cost.

I appreciate that. Yeah. Thank you. Members, any other questions? Okay, seeing none. Thank you. Thank you so much. We'll move on to the next bill. House Bill 840. This bill is relating to the University of Hawaii athletics, appropriate monies to athletic departments of the University of Hawaii.

Up first we have the University of Hawaii Manoa Aidy Manning testifying in support.

Thank you, Chair, Vice Chair, representatives for the opportunity to testify in support of House Bill 840. In addition to what is written, we stand on our written testimony. But in addition to what we have written, I'd also like to mention as the direct correlation that the fringe benefits has on the salaries that continue to rise.

It sometimes serves as a deterrent for us to be able to hire quality coaches and quality staff. And that has a direct effect on the services that we provide to our student athletes. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much. Up next, we have the University of Hawaii at Hilo via Zoom.

Aloha Chair Garrett, Vice Chair Amado and Members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, albeit virtually. I also appreciated the opportunity of visiting with you in person on campus last December. In the interest of time, we will go ahead and stand on a written testimony in support of HB 840.

However, I am here for any comments or questions that you might have. Mahalo.

Thank you. Aidy. That's all the scheduled testifiers we have. Is there anyone in the room wishing to testify? Seeing none. Anyone via Zoom? Seeing none either. Members questions, House Bill 840. Yes, La Chica. Please proceed.

Thank you just wanted to thank the chair for the opportunity to host our committee on both site visits at uh, Hilo as well as Manoa prior to session. This question is for. I guess Director Man. Um, if. Hi.

If you can just elaborate what this funding would help cover what's currently in the budget and what was governor's decision and what this funding in the budget in this bill would help cover for your department that was possibly either not funded or funded in the Governor's budget.

Absolutely. So this budget, the $3.2 million request is for a recurring to be part of the base budget. I think. I believe it used to be.

But we're having to come back year and ask individually for the $3.2 million that help covers our women's athletic sports in regards to travel and operational things like recruiting, team travel and nutrition and things like that. The other part of it was the 43 positions, which I kind of explained a little bit.

And then $400,000 of that is for requests for Alston awards. And Alston is something that we're allowed to give to every student athlete up to $5,980. To every student athlete. The maximum amount that we would be able to give is $2.6 million based on the athletes that we have. It is not.

It is not part of financial aid. It's completely separate. It's based on the student athlete qualifying they have to meet certain educational, I mean, requirements to be able to qualify to receive the funds. But we are not asking for the full 2.6.

We are asking for 400,000 of that to be able to enhance our awards in that area. And then lastly, the Nutrition ask for 857,000 is actually a new thing that we're trying to provide a fueling station in the newly renovated weight room that we have down in Athletics. Thanks to all of you that helped Fund that.

Thank you, by the way. But it's a fueling station that is an industry standard across all FBS schools where you walk in and you can work out and you can get nutrition.

Right now we're funding that with individual sports programs, are having to raise money and fundraise to get protein powder and be able to make protein shakes and provide nutrition for them. We also have donations from Diotani Produce who give us fruits and Metal Gold who provide drinks for us.

But it is an industry standard that we are trying to provide because it's a new fueling station. I hope that answers your question.

No, thank you. I know, and I know it's not in this Bill. It's different capital improvement like requests, but we did get a chance to walk through the visiting team's locker room and that was pretty sad. And I really hope that you're given. An opportunity in the next year or in the next couple years to be given that funding to get the renovations that you need.

Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate that very much. Thank you for your support.

Thank you, chair.

You're welcome. Members, any other questions? Yes, Rep. Kila.

Aidy, I have a question for you.

So it was just noted recently by our house finance Chair that without some of the overhead costs that is usually incurred by the University of Hawaii athletics for the first time, that you folks actually made money here on campus by hosting the football program without having to face the cost of, of going to a stadium.

So my question is, when you look at understanding your interim position, but athletics as a whole across the University systems, are there any duplicative costs that you folks could potentially bring inside the campus instead of having to go out?

I'm sorry, I'm not understanding your question.

So Chair Yamashit had shared, because you didn't have to pay for a stadium for the first time, you folks made money off of it.

And so my question is then in the way on other sports programs that exist throughout the University, as you folks go outside for some things, is there other ways to kind of duplicate that same thing? Of Having the university to house more sports programs that we don't have to potentially do so much allocations.

Understood. So we are trying to figure out a way to actually balance the budget, which we have for the past two years. Football has not actually balanced. Football did make money, but when we moved from Aloha Stadium to campus, that incurred a net loss of about $1.7 million.

Moving to campus because there's added expenses for football, we have to bring in portable toilets and we have to hire a bunch of people. Whereas at Aloha Stadium, that was not the case. We also have parking. A lot more parking at Aloha Stadium that we could. We could use as revenue source.

So we do manage to balance the budget, but across the board, there are ways to be able to bring in more money, I think is what you're asking about, revenue streams. So we are looking into some of those things with our ticketing structure, and maybe we can induce.

I know the University of Tennessee induced a talent fee on there to help pay for some of their expenses. We're looking into things like that. We're also looking at, obviously, fundraising, and there's opportunities in the NIL space right now that we're evaluating to maybe make. To maybe produce a revenue stream there as well.

Two more questions.

Thank you, Chair. You know, that's a good segue. So regarding the appropriations here, none of that would be used for NIL.

Okay. And then last question. The contract you folks have is still with Under Armour.

No.

So. No, Under Armour -Under Armour bought out their contract when they got into their trouble. I think it was two or three years ago. And then we have been with Adidas for the last two or three years.

When is that contract up?

That contract is up on June 30, but we are in negotiations.

For 2025?

Correct. But we have also. We have already solidified a contract and we haven't. We haven't announced it yet officially, so I'm not sure that. But. But there is a contract in place to. To take over on July 1st.

Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Rep Kila. Members. Any other questions? Just have a few for you, Aidy. That's okay. You mentioned the Alston Awards. Is this different from the Special Talent Scholarship, or is it the same?

It is completely different. Special Talent waivers are part of the way that the university helps fund our scholarships. So those are Special Talent waivers. special talent means athletics, basically, because. Yeah. So it is different, to answer your question.

Okay, thank you. And then Rep Kila did mention NIL and we just had the college football championships. And it was noted that Ohio State University, the Ohio state, spent nearly $20 million this past year to construct their team. What is the current NIL budget for the university?

We are actually evaluating that right now because right now NIL is run through collectives outside the University. On July 1, NIL needs to run through the university, and we are preparing for that. So once it is run through the university, we will have a better handle on that.

And we're in the process of securing all of that and organizing all of that right now.

Do you kind of have a goal in mind as to what you want.

To get to $20 million?

That would be awesome. Okay, let's see here. Maybe this is a question for CFO Young regarding the base budget issue. Some of us are fairly new to the Legislature, and I know there's a reference here made at one point this was in the base budget, but somehow became out of the base budget.

Could you just educate us on how that happened and when that happened?

Okay. So related to the athletic funding, back sometime, I believe in 2018 or 19, $4 million was appropriated from the Legislature to, uh, H Athletics. Appropriated to system. Uh system, which is technical. Uh, 900. That is not a campus. Uh, that's. That's the University system. So that 4 million was.

Was directed to be distributed to the program or to the campuses that do have athletics. So 3.2 million of the 4 million was distributed to H Minoa. 800,000 of the 4 million was distributed to uh, H Hilo. And it was that way. That was the initial appropriation year.

The subsequent year that amount, by normal process was requested to be included into the base. Into the base means that's the bulk appropriation that the Legislature approves each year. And every subsequent year it's presumed that it just renews. And all of our discussions that we have during session and basically the additive or subtractive measures from new initiatives.

But at some point in time, I believe it was right around just pre pandemic, the Legislature took that $4 million out of the base, but did appropriate it in that year singularly. So it was the same money appropriated, but not recurring.

And since that time, for at least the last three plus years, each year the Legislature has appropriated this $4 million to UH, the same fashion, but it is not recurring, meaning it is not in the base. Each year it requires to be deliberated on and reappropriated by the Legislature. So this request is to put it into the.

I'm sorry, our budget request not this bill, our budget request, which this bill mirrors, would be to put it into the base, meaning have it be set as recurring in the base it previously was in the base. For all intents and purposes, it has been subsequently appropriated each year ever since.

So it's just to put it into the base.

Thank you. Thank you for the explanation question for AD Guillen with, uh, Hilo. Yes? Just want to echo what. Yes, Chair. Yes. Just want to echo what Replica said in terms of your graciousness in hosting us.

Back in December, when we visited your campus, you were kind enough to bring a couple of student athletes to talk about the challenges they face. Specifically regarding the per diem. Could you remind us how much your Division 2 athletes receive per diem when they go on the road to compete?

$32. Yeah, so not that much. In fact, on almost every trip, they end up taking out of their own pocket. And so this appropriation will certainly allow us to increase that significantly.

Okay, so the $32 is supposed to cover three meals per day? Yes, sir. Okay. And I believe the Governor did include 500,000 of this 800,000 in his budget. If you do not receive the full amount, you receive 500,000 instead of, again, the 800. How would that impact your operations?

Well, I think, you know, we've. We. We have corporate sponsorships. We're doing some fundraising. We do a Vulcan Challenge crowdfunding campaign every single year. You know, I think we're also working on an athletics fee right now currently. So, you know, we'll make it work regardless.

We just won't be able to raise the per diem as much as we would like to, and, you know, probably have to look at some roster size reductions as we travel as well.

One of the biggest things that happened for us this year, and I included the testimony, but I certainly would like to, you know, say it publicly, is that the PACWEST conference, the conference that we compete in, added four additional institutions in the last 18 months. And so because of the.

In the larger size conference, our road trips now are much longer than they have been before. And with the addition of the Schools, they've added six different championships, which. That's a $250,000 line item right there. So this appropriation for us, it's a wide divide between the 500 and the 800. We could really use the $800,000.

Thank you for the explanation, and we certainly don't want you breathing a sigh of relief if one of your teams don't make it to the championship. So thank you for sharing that I'm. Rooting for every single one of them. You know that. Okay, thank you. AD Members, any other questions? Okay.

Saying now moving on to the next Bill, House Bill 842 relating to mental health at the University of Hawaii. This Bill appropriates funds to the University of Hawaii at Manoa to establish three addition permanent mental health practitioner positions within the Division of Student Successes, Counseling and Student Development Center.

Up first, we have the University of Hawaii System, Kapa Oliveira, testifying in support.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair. Members of the Committee, I'm Katrina Ann Kapa Oliveira. I'm the interim Vice Provost for Student Success at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The University stands on our written testimony in support of House Bill 842. And I'll be available for any questions. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much. Up next, we have Academic Labor United. Diane Da testifying in support. Thank you for being here.

To the Members of the Committee, thank you so much for the opportunity to testify. Chair and Vice Chair Representative Garrett. Representative. So I am Diane. I'm a President of Academic Labor United. We are an organization that seeks to improve the living and working conditions of the graduate assistants here in UH Manoa.

So we are testifying in support of this bill. So many of our gas experience severe mental stress. And because we are consistently overworked and yet underpaid, so many GAS rely on this free service that is provided by uh Division of Student Success.

And of course because of the giant demand, and I know, we all know that the counseling center is doing its best to provide for, you know, 47,000 Members of this community. We are very much in support of this allocation of funds for funding three more mental health practitioners.

And yeah, we add our voice to strong support for this Bill.

And thank you, thank you very much via Zoom, Liliana Perrine, is she available? Testifying in support. Okay, please proceed. Aloha.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Liliana Perrine and I am currently a junior at Kalaheo High School. I strongly support House Bill 842 and that will implement three additional mental health practitioners within the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

As a junior who is currently college hunting, an important aspect that I am looking for in a school is how they support their students. Over the years I have seen countless friends struggle with mental health issues and lost a peer to suicide.

My peers and myself are in desperate need for people who will actively push for our mental well being and to have people specifically designated for that role will work wonders in our growth, education and lives. Thank you for your time and consideration. I hope you will decide to support House Bill 842. And I'm open to any questions.

Okay. Thank you, Liliana, and sorry for your loss. Members, that's all that we have scheduled to testify. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify on House Bill 842? Anyone? Via Zoom seeing none. Members, questions? House Bill 842. Okay, I have one for Ms. Oliveira, please.

So you note in your testimony that the recommended ratio for one FTE is roughly 1,000 to 1,500. Yet the University currently is in a situation where unfortunately it's one FTE to every 4,000 students.

And you note that the recommended standard, up from basically the 0.5 FTE psychiatrists you have in the 4.5 FTE of psychologists, are well below the recommended standard of 13 to 20 considering the student population size. We know that this is. There's a shortage across the area when it comes to mental health professionals if the position is funded.

Do you have any specific strategies to try to convince these professionals who are in such high demand to come to the University?

Yes. So we have identified some. Some folks who are on soft money that might be interested in this new environment to apply for positions that previously did not apply.

And so that's one of the strategies that we are employing, is to look at the people who might be available already in a system like the state system versus private practice.

Because often it's difficult when folks know that they can go into private practice and they can have more flexible hours and they can make their own schedule, they can work remotely. And so that's where we're starting, is to look at people who might be on soft funds that might be interested.

And what do you mean by soft funds?

So soft money. So there are some folks that have grants that they've applied for. They haven't heard back whether or not they're going to have a continuation of their grants. And so they will be seeking employment in the near future. So that's where we would start.

Thank you, Members. Any other questions? Okay, seeing none. Thank you. We'll move on to the next Bill. House Bill 1170. This Bill is relating to the University of Hawaii resident tuition fee Members note this is an Administration Bill.

This requires the University of Hawaii to grant the resident's tuition fee for enrollment at any University of Hawaii campus to individuals who have graduated from Hawaii High School and are enrolling in an undergraduate degree program under certain conditions up First, VP Halbert with, uh, testifying in support.

Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, the University stands on its written testimony. We also have Associate Vice President Farrah Marie Gomes on Zoom. I hope to answer questions if they should occur. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much. Up next, we have the Department of Education Superintendent here or representative. Seeing none. I hope he's not at the Capitol. Members, please note that he submitted testimony in support. And up next, University of Hawaii Student Caucus Ronald Sergis also testifying in support.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, I apologize. This testimony does mirror a lot of what I said in my earlier statement on House Bill 542. But. But let me just go over real quick.

From the student perspective, at least that is one thing I can say as a student and as many other students I've talked to about it can at least agree on that. We don't really see a downside to this. As far as we can see.

This is adding a definition to a program that already exists, or I guess a technicality or a term that exists. Pardon me. So for us, we don't really see any reason why this shouldn't be full send on that.

But if we want to get a little bit more into the financial impact and especially when we're looking at schools for where we want to go. I already did mention the idea that a lot of our students or prospective students would go to the mainland for cheaper housing, sometimes even cheaper education, sometimes even better education.

But this would at least give us that advantage of keeping some of that here still by allowing, I guess, a bit more of a wider gap. Let's say a student wants to take a gap year or something comes up, things happen, and for whatever reason, they would no longer qualify for the original residency rate.

This would give them a little bit more breathing room, an extra helping hand to allow them to come back to their state, to their home state, to the University, to continue that journey that maybe they might have been prevented beyond this.

If you have any technical questions, I would love to redirect that to AVP Gomes, who would be on Zoom for any more student or anecdotal questions. I'm happy to answer for that. Thank you very much for the opportunity.

Thank you. Okay, Members, that's all that we have scheduled to testify. Is there anyone in the room wishing to do so? Anyone via Zoom? Seeing none. Thank you, Members, any questions? House Bill 1170, seeing none. We'll move on to the next Bill. House Bill 1171.

Members, please note, this is also an Administration Bill relating to the University of Hawaii relief funding. This Bill amends the University of Hawai'I Tuition and fee special Fund by allowing the Board of Regents to dedicate funding for student aid in direct response to an emergency or disaster as declared by the Governor.

Up first, we have VP Halbert with the UH system in support.

Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, the University stands on its written testimony. Again, we have Associate Vice President Franmarie Gomes to answer any technical questions, but thank you very much.

Okay, thank you. Up next, welcome back. Ron Sturges with the UH Student Caucus testifying in support.

Aloha once again. Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, I'm loving the leg day. The Student Caucus is here in support of this Bill 1171 to allow the University to provide support to students impacted by emergency situations as declared by the Governor. I'm going to go into a little bit of a personal anecdote.

I apologize I didn't include this in our main testimony.

Nothing to apologize for.

When the Lahaina wildfires impacted our state, specifically Maui, back in, I believe it was the 23rd of August. I may have gotten the date wrong. That was when I officially joined up with my student government organization, Honolulu Community College.

My advisor at the time did get boots on the ground there and was helping with some of the relief efforts. And as a student, as many other students had told me, they felt like they could be doing more.

I understand this Bill does not allow the students directly to assist, but in some solid way, the comfort of knowing that we can help those who are in need of support, especially after disasters such as the Lahaina wildfires. It gives us at least a small comfort that we may not at least have been provided otherwise.

To go back on track, any attempts currently to provide any sort of financial aid to students who are impacted by these wildfires would negatively impact these students and their current financial aid pathways. Furthermore. Sorry, I gotta double check this one.

There's honestly a lot more to be gained here than there is to lose if we were to approve this. I am not an expert on the specifics. I will tell you that I am a student first and foremost, and most of my concerns are gonna come from that perspective.

And as a student, I see that being able to help our own is one of the best things that we can try to do with what we have. And I see this Bill as, in that perspective, probably one of the best things we can do, bar going down there ourselves and helping, picking through the rubble.

Thank you very much for the Opportunity to testify. And EVP Gomes is available to answer many of the technical questions.

Okay, thank you very much. That's all we have scheduled to testify. Anyone else in the room wishing to do so? Seeing none. Anyone via Zoom? Seeing none as well. Members, any questions? House Bill 1171. Seeing none. We'll proceed on to the next bill. House Bill 1345. This Bill is relating to teacher education.

This requires the Board of Regents to grant a waiver on all tuition and mandatory fees to a resident student enrolled in the College of Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa for the semester or term that the student enrolls in a state approved teacher education program.

Up first, we have VP Halbert with the uh, system providing comments.

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. I'll just say a few things about our testimony. We do of course very much support the work we can do to encourage people to join the profession of teaching. And we're actively working as a system on a variety of avenues to do so.

The concerns we have with this Bill really is an assessment of the cost to the University, especially the University of Hua at Manoa for covering those particular semesters where there would be a waiver of the tuition. So we would need to consider that. That in the context of this Bill.

I would say, and this isn't in the testimony though, that if there is a way to consider this, I would encourage it to be a system wide approach as opposed to just looking at the University of Manoa. But I am happy to answer questions. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Up next, Hawaii State Teachers Association testifying in support.

Hello. Aloha Chair, Vice Chair. Members of the Committee, Jason Bradshaw representing HSTA. We stand in strong support of this. Measure and which like to emphasize that. We believe this will help recruit new. Teachers from Hawaii and it also help with our severe teacher shortage in Hawaii. Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you, Mr.

Bradshaw.

Members, please. Also we have testimony in support from the Superintendent of the Department of Education as well as the Office of. I'm sorry, comments from the Department of Education and testimony and support from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anyone via Zoom? Seeing None. Members, questions? House Bill 1345.

If not, I have one for VP Halbert. Do you have a sense of what the cost estimate would be if we.

Yeah, we weren't able to put that together with our testimony, but we can look into it. So. And again, it's not. It would be wonderful to have cost free tuition, but in this case for just that One semester or two semesters? We would need to look at how many teachers are currently available so we can do that.

Okay. And is it typically two semesters that students are in?

I would have to defer to the College of Education on that answer.

Fair enough. Thank you.

Thanks.

Members, any other questions? House Bill 1345. Seeing none, we will move on to the next Bill. House Bill 442 relating to the University of Hawaii. This Bill appropriates funds to the, uh, system for various nursing programs. Up first we have the University of Hawaii system. Provost Bruno or Dean, please.

Sir, we have a few names here on your testimony. So thank you, Dean, for being here testifying in support.

Okay. Good afternoon, Chair Garrett, Vice Chair Amato. And Members of the House Committee on. Higher Education, welcome to UH Manoa, and. My name is Clementina Ceria-Ulep, Dean of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene.

So this testimony is presented on behalf of the University of Hawaii system, including the, UH Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, UH West Oahu, and, UH Hilo School of Nursing. So basically, this request is to Fund. Expansion of our programs in these campuses. And I'll explain briefly for UH Manoa.

So for us, it's asking for the phase three funding for the, UH Manoa, uh, West Oahu collaboration. And thank you for funding the phase two. And that's for four instructors and also one instructor for our online RNTBS program. So I have Nicole Akana from, UH West Oahu to provide details for their request. Thank you. You sure?

Aloha Garrett Chair, Garrett Vice Chair, Amato and Members of the House Committee on Higher Education. My name is Nicole Akana and I am the co lead for the UH West Oahu Pre Nursing Program here in support of HB442. And I'm available for any questions, but I stand by our written submission.

Thank you, Ms. Akana. Up next, the Hawaii State Center for Nursing, Ms. Laura Reichardt.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. I'm so sorry I cannot be there in person today. I have a sick keiki with me, so. And she may disrupt us, so I apologize for that. I do want to say that this is a.

The Hawaii State Center for Nursing, as we've been established in state law, has the honor of providing research and our research findings here today. We both survey nurses as well as our nursing education programs, both public and private in our state.

And through both bodies of research, we have found that there is capacity, so there are people who are interested in engaging in these educational programs as well as a need in our workforce. So I just highlighted some of that, those details in my testimony and I am available for any questions. Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you. Up next, we have Academic Labor United. Aloha to the Committee.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to testify. I'm actually here to provide comments on this specific bill. So we fully support this Bill which provides necessary funding for undergraduate nursing students.

And we believe the time is now to update and expand the UHSM's ability to provide quality undergraduate nursing education to answer the dire needs of the state's healthcare system. The passing of this Bill would assure us that nursing education is currently a prioritized agenda item at the local and state governmental levels.

And therefore, we would like to take this opportunity to present comments for this Bill to emphasize to the Committee and to the public at large that graduate nursing education is equally critical in Hawaii. As of fall 2025, any incoming DNP students, Doctor of nurse practitioner students, will no longer receive tuition waivers.

And without tuition waivers, the ability of the DNP program to enroll and train skilled healthcare providers across the state will be severely diminished as paying for full tuition will serve as a huge barrier for anyone looking to enroll in the nursing graduate program. So. So who are the people who are in the Nursing Graduate Program?

95% of the people that are local, they're in Hawaii. They are currently working as registered nurses already. They serve the needs of the state and they are pursuing their graduate education in order to more fully provide a holistic service for their patients because they care.

And so as this Bill allocates 1.8 million of state funds to undergraduate nursing programs, we urge the Committee to consider amending the Bill to include reinstating tuition waivers for DNP students to ensure the sustainability of Hawaii's healthcare workforce. All current nursing gas are already greatly disheartened by the UH administration's lack of budgetary priorities.

The removal of tuition waivers signals a lack of their commitment to the very healthcare professionals that Hawaii needs the most. Yeah. So thank you.

Thank you very much. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Seeing none via Zoom as well. Members, questions? House Bill 442. Yes.

Representative La Chica, question for Laura Reichart with the Center for Nursing.

Aloha.

Hey Laura. And hopefully you're Keiki will get better soon. In your survey, in your research, which among the number of applications. Well, one. Can you expound in your testimony on the number of applications versus number of seats available and of these, how much percent is local versus coming from mainland? That's my first question.

I'll have a follow up after that.

Thank you for that question. For the first question, when we talk about applicants and applications, I just want to clarify that the Center for Nursing surveys the schools of nursing. Sorry for the disruption related to applications. So we may. And we know that many people apply for multiple schools. So the toddler is distracting me.

Let me walk into another room real quick so I can give you the information. But we do see that there is capacity for additional application or because of the number of applications there's capacity as it relates to out of state applications to in state applications. We actually don't collect that information.

We do have information from our nursing workforce supply survey and I'm happy to provide that to you after this hearing.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other questions? Hospital 442 seeing none. Members. I'm sorry I forgot to mention this earlier, but please note we also have testimony and support on this Bill from the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, the East Hawaii region of the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation as well as Aloha Care and one individual.

We'll move on to the next Bill. House Bill 843. This Bill is relating to the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience, not human resources. As we learned. Appropriate funds for critical repairs, maintenance, demolition, design and construction for facilities of CTAHR at uh. MNOA establishes an appropriate funds for positions within the UH for ctahr.

Up first we have Dean Grewal testifying in support.

Mahalo Chair. Vice Chair and The Members of the Committee for this opportunity to provide testimony and support and we stand on a written testimony in support as well. But I just want to highlight briefly there are three components to this bill and the first one is request for repairs for buildings and infrastructure in our Waimanaro research station.

And in there we also are requesting phase one design dollars for building an animal science teaching lab which is critical for our national accreditation for that program. The second section is requesting to establish a new controlled environment agriculture research facility.

But it will be a facility for research, teaching and a production farm that will produce food for our regional kitchens. Students will be involved and therefore workforce development is key component of this.

In addition that it is very critical for Hawaii to build its resilience in food so that we have a year round food production and under situations like hurricanes and such. And the last piece is requesting staff positions for our care centers all across the state. So those positions are requested for all islands.

On five different islands these stations exist. And these stations are critical and produce necessary research based information to support all agricultural industries and also our farmers and families on those stations. Our goal with a new vision is to develop these stations as local hubs of collaborative innovation and community prosperity.

So there's a change in our approach to managing those stations to increase our impact in our communities. Thank you. I'm here for question answers.

Thank you, Dean. Up next we have is Metro Girl Hawaii here in person. zero, please come up here. Dr. Kerry Kakazu, Metro Go Hawaii testify in support.

Thank you Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Members. I did submit late written testimony so didn't see on the website. But I stand in support of this Bill and on our written testimony. But just wanted to comment specifically on the CEA or Controlled Environment Agriculture Facility that Dean Gruel mentioned. That's our company's job.

We are the first indoor vertical farm in the state. We're very familiar with this field. I really applaud the University for Now coming to and asking to develop their own facility.

Controlled Environment agriculture, if you're not familiar, grows in a protected space using a fraction of the land and water, little chemicals, just a very environmentally friendly way to grow produce for Hawaii and across the world. So I think it's time for us to add our input to this.

It's a big important field in the face of climate change and limited resources. So many major universities across the country have started developing these programs. And so I think the University has a great opportunity with our unique environment to add another voice and perspective to this growing field. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much. Up next via Zoom, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Mr. Brian Miyamoto testifying in support. He's not present. Okay, thank you. Members. Please also note we have testimony from the Maui County Farm Bureau also in support. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anyone via Zoom? Seeing none. Thank you. Members. Any questions?

House Bill 843. Yes, Rebecca Hila, please proceed.

Please. I don't need. I would just want to ask regarding the proliferation of CRB, can you talk about to what extent CTAHR has been involved with the counties and the DOA to kind of address some of the infestations going on? Is CTAR involved?

CTAHR is definitely involved and that particular. There is a Bill that's coming up. The next Bill is on crb. We can talk more about that. In that, however, we have research going on and we also have federal funding that actually focus on reducing the spread in the real world.

So those staff that we have, they go out and do the treatments, detect and to prevent the further spread of crp.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, Rep. Kapela.

Sorry. Rep.

Kapela, go ahead.

No, please come back.

You don't get off that easy.

You know, I really appreciate this bill. I definitely support the work that you folks are doing. However, I do represent a neighbor island and I have two facilities that are either within or just outside of my district that are extensions of CTAHR that are in extreme need of repair and support.

So it's, it's a little bit distressing to me to see a $5 million sum going to the creation of a brand new space, which I can appreciate as well.

But knowing what I've seen on the facilities that are incredibly important to protecting local farmers in my district, specifically protecting and uplifting like coffee farmers which are struggling with their own spaces of infestation, it's really hard to see that much money going there.

I do see in here that you have, you're requesting some full time positions for specifically extension centers, but it doesn't enumerate what extension centers specifically. Can you talk a little bit more about that?

Yes, absolutely. Representative Capella, you are absolutely correct that our facilities are in dire need. We recently did a study and the minimum estimate was $17 million for all our facilities. And that is at that time when the study was done.

That said, I was charged as a new dean from my Administration, including the President, to prioritize and to make a strategic vision, develop a vision for these facilities. So based on that, this year we prioritize Waimanalo and building community Engaged work there in order to address the similar situation.

However, that said, on the Big island, we have currently four separate repairs projects that are funded one by the Legislature and the others by the University. That repairs are going on, including the coffee station. That's Kona station. We investing $3 million in that.

But I know there is additional need because that will only address buildings that needed to be demolished and few small buildings that are being built. But we need new greenhouses there. I'm totally aware of that. So in next year we would come for that because I'm very aware how much money Hawaii has to offer.

So we have prioritized that we will go in stages. And I have prioritized in my work that even CTAHR's own resources we will bring so that more stations get helped. And I will be in your district hopefully next year. And the positions that we are requesting, those are statewide.

In those positions, there are actually over eight positions that will go to the Big Island. Out of the total 20 positions that we are requesting. A number of positions are service oriented. There will be definitely a position in the Kona region. And we are aware of the need. Absolutely.

Okay, thank you so much. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rep. Capella. And just to clarify, Dean, you already have a research station at Waimanalo, so this is not a new facility. This would be a renovation with the 5 million.

Correct. So we do have a facility in Waimanalo that we require repairs for that. But we are also acquiring Meadow Gold land, which is another 280 acres contiguous to this. We already managing that land.

That is the land that we want to redesign to have our new animal science teaching lab facility there, which is critical for our accreditation. And also expand the Go Farm program that will train new farmers and expand our research capacity in sustainable agriculture there as well.

Okay, thank you. I was going to ask why you chose to prioritize the care center at Waimanalo, but thanks for answering it in advance. Regarding the Meadow Gold Dairies acquisition. So has that deal already been closed or are you in negotiations? What is the status of that 280acres you just referenced?

So we were charged last year by DLNR that the land actually went to dlnr. All the environment assessment has been done by the company, and so it's been handed over. And DLNR has given us right of access. That is also clear.

But DLNR want us to present to them a design so that they can formally hand over the land to us.

Okay, thank you, Dean. Members, any other questions? House Bill 843. Yes. Follow up Rep. Cappella.

Thank you, Dean. I know you mentioned animal sciences and that's the need for prioritizing Waimanalo. We also did a site visit thanks to Chair Garrett to uh, Hilo. And we had the opportunity to visit some of the work that they're doing in relation to animal sciences and specifically really large animals like horses.

And to my knowledge from that visit it was like a one of a kind, very unique program. What are you doing to work with them since it's already in existence?

Right. So this is another shift in CTAHR's vision moving forward. Our vision involves collaborative innovation. So I've already met with all the chancellors of community colleges, including the four year programs and I've opened arms to develop programs that we will go together.

We have discussed our aquaculture program that we will go together with them and the animal science. We are, we have invited their program leader to discuss further as to what we can do together.

The animal science lab facility here is for teaching purpose mainly for sure, but at the same time one of the focus areas that we not addressing is small ruminants, sheep, goat. There is so much need and goat also is now involved for contract grazing so that we can have fire mitigation while we also produce food.

So those kind that will be the emphasis in Waimanalo, whereas livestock emphasis stays on Big island with Miyalani Station as well as with Hilo.

Okay, thank you. Thank you so much Chair. Thank you.

Okay, thank you Rep. Kapela. Thank you, Dean. Members, any other questions? Seeing none, we'll move to our third to last bill, House Bill 643 HD 1 related to the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Program.

This bill that came over from the Agriculture and Food Systems Committee establishes short term management initiatives for the CRB response program, appropriates funds for activities and positions related to CRB infestation control. And this Bill does currently have a defective date of 713000. Up first we have Dean Grewal, if you don't mind coming back up, testifying in support.

Thank you again chair and Vice Chair and the committee members for this opportunity. This is a bill on CRB and we have federally funded project right now and we are uncertain of the funds continuing in the from the federal side. And two components of that project are already going to be eliminated.

That one is on the canine detection of CRB and the another one is actual feed management. So this Bill will support the work that we are already doing. Our work is highly appreciated by the Department of Agriculture as well. We are providing community trainings all around the state, but also the information about CRB. And one component is the long term management. We want to initiate research on biocontrol of CRB. So I'm here to answer any questions.

Thank you. Up next, Department of the Attorney General, Deputy A.G. park. Oh, please proceed providing comments.

Good afternoon, Chair Garrett. Vice Chair Amato. Members of the committee. The Department of the Attorney General has two concerns. One is that the bill be identified as a law of statewide concern. And the second is because there's a grant in the bill, we suggest including standards for the provision of the grant. Thank you.

Okay, thank you, Deputy AG. Up next, we have Hawaii Farm Bureau wasn't available earlier. Not present. Thank you. Hawaii Farm Bureau testifying in support.

Members, please also note we have testimony in support from dlnr, the Hawaii Invasive Species Council, Council Member Holland of the Kauai County Council, the County of Kauai Office of Economic Development, the Hawaii Farmers Union, the Big Island Invasive Species Committee and two individuals. Members any questions? House Bill 643.

Dean, is this the time to ask you now? Okay, so going back to my previous question, can you-I'm more curious, I mean, to add to kind of what Rep. Kapela was saying.

I know Honolulu is ground zero for CRB, but how is CTAHR working with our neighbor island counties as well to make sure we're not spreading that to the neighbor islands?

Right. So this particular program, I do have a researcher with me that is part of that program. He can elaborate and answer more on that. But the effort is not only in Honolulu, but on other places as well. As soon as we see something, detect something, immediately the action is taken on all our stations and all islands.

We have staff that actually travels to different islands regularly for this work. I can ask? Yeah, please.

Yes. Chair and members of the committee, thanks for having me up. Dr. Keith Weiser. I'm the program manager for the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Response. And we do operate statewide and with all the agencies involved, Department of Agriculture, DLNR and the Invasive Species Committees on each island.

And probably the most pertinent answer to your question is we're currently in the process of drafting a memorandum of understanding between DLNR, University of Hawaii and Hawai'I Department of Agriculture. And we already have soft commitments within a responsibility matrix with new detections and on going management specific for each county who's gonna take which specific actions in each of those areas.

So I'm sorry to ask, how far out are you focused on the MOU to be completed?

We have a matrix that assigns the responsibilities and we have a probably 80% complete draft of exact actions that members will take. So it's not finished and signed off on. But that can be a template for each of the other. Each of the other counties. So so far Maui has become the template.

So sorry to clarify you're just drafting the template. Not necessary. People are putting pen to paper.

Yes. Yeah, pen to paper. And that Maui version will become a template for the other counties.

Okay, so if you were to put a timeline, like how many days or weeks would you say you folks are out from putting pen to paper of an MOU?

I'd say the biggest factor there is getting all the signatories together to decide side and so that's the biggest source of variability to finish that draft I would guess or finish the Maui plan. I would say another month and that could be finished with concerted effort.

Okay, is that something that's. I'll ask you offline. Thank you. Thank you chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Rep Kila. Members, any other questions? House Bill 643, HD1. Seeing none. We'll move on to the next bill, House Bill 441, HD1. Members, note that this bill along with the next one both pertain to cigarette taxes. So the first one, HB 441, HD1 relating to cigarette taxes.

This bill, beginning 7-1-25, increases the cigarette tax and amends the cigarette tax disposition of revenues by allocating the increase in the cigarette tax amount to the Hawaii Cancer Research Special Fund. And this bill does have a defective date of 7-1-3000. Up first we have Dr. Ueno of the UH Cancer Center testifying in support.

So aloha, Chair and Vice Chair and the Committee Member. So we stand on this testimony and we support this bill strongly. So this funding allows us to invest in our future, which is really talking about cancer free society in Hawaii and the Pacific Island.

To make this happen it is very important that we invest in research, education, and academic clinical care, which will help us. We are the only NCI designated cancer center in this region and this is really about impacting the outcome. And so 40% of us in this room will have cancer unfortunately.

And over the course, the cancer center working with the health care system has reduced our cancer mortality about 25% over the several decades. We do need to achieve a higher number, which is about 50% by 2040. But to do this we really need to invest more, and we are behind comparing to other areas.

The other important thing I like to note is that massive loss of money to the continent because of certain care is not available on the island. With probably in travel, it could exceed a billion is what I would say. And it's really not just money, but it impacts everybody's life.

I would like to use myself as an example. Okay. So I myself, as you probably, I testify a couple times, I'm a cancer survivor. I went through stem cell transplant. This island cannot have stem cell transplant. So that means that if I was a resident seven years ago, I will be dead at this moment.

So that doesn't make any sense. Right. And so, and this is not just about what I received, but there are other treatments that is not available and there are clinical trial that's missing. So therefore, it is very important that we invest in our future and this is what we stand for. The cancer center is not simply about UH System or UH Manoa, but it's really the stakeholder is you and all of us. So I hope that you could support this bill. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Dr. Ueno. Up next, Department of the Attorney General, Deputy AG Stacey testifying in support.

Good afternoon. I'm Rich Stacey. I'm a Deputy Attorney General. I supervise the Tobacco Enforcement Unit. We are in support of this bill. We do defer to University of Hawaii on a lot of the impact to the cancer center. We definitely agree that the cancer center needs the funding.

We would point out, as the Chair noted, that the next bill, HB 1085, is one that is from the Governor's package that we worked on with UH and Department of Health and Department of Taxation and Budget and Finance. That one encompasses more beneficiaries than just the cancer center, but it also would benefit the cancer center.

And I'll be testifying on that next. As background, my unit was funded out of the master settlement agreement in 1998. Hawaii and basically all the other states have some version of that settlement. Hawaii has received over $1.1 billion in cigarette tax stamp revenues and over $2 billion in the actual stamps since the MSA was signed.

My unit is underfunded at the moment and also the other beneficiaries of cigarette tax revenues. So not just the cancer center, but the Trauma System Special Fund, the community health centers, and the Emergency Medical Services Special Fund. So those are all in 1085. So we agree the cancer center needs the push. We want you to take a look at 1085 also. And I think that's about it. I'm happy to answer questions.

Thank you. Up next, Department of Health testifying in support.

Oh, I am so short.

You're welcome to adjust the mic.

Okay, thank you. Good afternoon, Chair and Vice Chair of the Higher Education Committee and Members. It's great to be back at my alma mater and the testimonies prior resonated. I worked my way through college both times and had three babies working on my master's degree. So it's good to be back.

This institution has a great amount of meaning for me. Thank you so much for hearing HB 441, HD1. The Department of Health does support this bill. And it's because we want people to live long lives. And in order to do that, we need to create really supportive environment so that people will have those options to live long lives. And yet we know that about 1,400 people in Hawaii die every year from smoking attributable death.

That's just from cigarette smoking. And it is the most preventable cause of death and disease. And the other thing too is with the clever marketing that has happened, what we do know is that about the rates are higher for smoking for Native Hawaiians, 17% compared to 10% of the rest of the population, 20% for people in low economic status. And then 17, close to 18% of people with behavioral health conditions also smoke.

So it's a problem in Hawaii, and I can attest to it. I have had many loved ones die, including my dad and my best friend's dad, my cousin. And I have a cousin before age 50 who just had a stroke and is still in recovery. It also takes a financial toll. So $611 million in health care costs, $1.1 billion in loss on productivity in Hawaii. So why support increasing the price of cigarettes? It's because we know it helps youth think about it, should they start.

And it's a proven method in public health to prevent people from starting. And it's a proven method to help people to quit. And so from a public health perspective, we know that it will help people live longer lives. We also know that in terms of the nexus within the funds and the revenue, there is a nexus with the distribution of the dollars. So we do hope that you will pass either HB 441 or HB 1085. I'm here for both. So thank you so much for the opportunity to provide testimony.

Okay, thank you. Do we have anyone here from the Queen's Health Systems? Are they available via Zoom? Either JC McIlinnick or Jason Chang. Not present. Providing testimony and support. Is the Hawaii Public Health Institute here in person? All right. Kevin Ramirez testifying in support.

Aloha and good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, and Members of the Committee. I'm Kevin Ramirez, the Program Manager for the Coalition for Tobacco Free Hawaii, a program of the Hawaii Public Health Institute, here to testify in support with amendments for HB 441, HD1.

We respectfully request the bill be amended to raise the tax by at least a dollar per pack to maximize potential public health benefits for youth prevention and adult cessation. More details outlining public health benefits are in our written testimony. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support of HB 441, HD1. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Up next, American Cancer Society. Excuse me, Cancer Action Network. Cynthia Au, providing testimony in support with amendments.

Thank you, Chair, Vice Chair, and Committee Members. Cynthia Au on behalf of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, or ACS CAN. We support the bill with amendments. 9,000 residents from Hawaii will hear the words "you have cancer" this year and more than 2,000 are expected to die from the disease.

While projections in 2025 mark an uptick in diagnoses, there has been a decline in deaths compared to 2024 because of institutions like the UH Cancer Center, which provides important cancer research, access to life saving treatment, including clinical trials, and education, which play a critical role in reducing the cancer burden for our diverse population in Hawaii. Tobacco use is the number one preventable cause of cancer, and 1400 adults will die from smoking this year. Please consider increasing the cigarette tax to 5 cents a stick or a dollar per pack. We appreciate that you'll also be hearing HB 1085. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Now we're going to transition to Zoom. Up first, the Department of Taxation. Not present. Providing comments.

Sorry, Chair. Present.

Oh, apologies. Go ahead, DOTAX.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, my name is Winston Wong on behalf of the Department of Taxation. Department stands on its written testimony providing comments on the measure. Just want to reiterate based on our testimony that, if the measure is passed, we do request that any stamp increases go in effect on January 1st of 2026. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Next, we have the Tax Foundation of Hawaii providing comments. Go ahead, Mr. Yamachika.

Thank you, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Tom Yamachika from Tax Foundation of Hawaii. As we have no problem with the health care goals of this bill, we do have a little bit of a problem with the funding mechanism. And let me explain, number one, that by tagging these programs to the cigarette tax, it is a kind of declining proposition because, as we've seen, and I have a graph in my testimony. Cigarette tax revenues decline over time. Basically, you want people to smoke less. They're doing it.

What you're doing is working. So people are smoking less, and it's no surprise that you're making less money from the tax because people are smoking less. The other thing I want the Committee to understand is that as our national counterpart has testified also on this bill, a cigarette tax is very regressive. What that means is that it is applied without regard to how much you're making.

It's applied without regard to your ability to pay. The tax is just applied on a transaction basis. And our friends at the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C. have shown that the incidence of a cigarette tax would fall upon the bottom quintile of the income population 10 times more heavily than those at the top 2 quintiles. So please keep that in mind also as if you would like to move this bill forward. I would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Okay, thank you. Up next, American Lung Association. Not present. Submitted testimony in support. Up next, Marukin Market. Mr. Yoshinaga.

Not present. Testimony in opposition. Members, that is all we have scheduled to testify, in person or via Zoom. Is there anyone in the room wishing to testify? House Bill 441 HD 1? Seeing none. Anyone else via Zoom? Seeing none either. Members, questions? House Bill 441.

Yeah.

Oh, I'm sorry. Could you identify yourself please?

Hi, good afternoon, Chair and Members of the Committee. My name is Sue. I am speaking of behalf my husband from Marquee Market. This tax burdens low-income individuals, while hurting small business that rely on cigarette sales. It also drives black market activity, reducing state revenue and increasing illegal sales.

Also, the Hawaii Cancer Research Center was built with the goal to become a self-sustaining institution, with the intention of creating cutting edge cancer treatments. Despite their national recognition, it has failed to meet their goal. Continuing to raise taxes to fund is not a sustainable solution. HB 441 is regressive, ineffective, and harmful to businesses. I urge you to vote "No."

Thank you.

Okay, thank you. My apologies for mispronouncing your last name. Members, it is Travis Yoneshige, not Yoshinaga. My apologies. Is there anyone else on Zoom wishing to testify? Seeing none. Members, questions? House Bill 441 HD 1. Yes, Rep. La Chica?

Question for Attorney General, please. Deputy? Hi, Deputy. Can you just elaborate on the Master Settlement Agreement, and in your testimony, what, what is, what in, what do you, what are—what are the requirements in which you—we—must enforce, and what would we be held—would be the state be held liable too, should we not meet those requirements?

Thank you. I kind of dropped that on the first testimony, or when I first tried. So basically, part of the Master Settlement Agreement requires every state to have a unit like ours, and we do inspections across the state. We hit all the cigarette sellers and now we hit all the vape sellers.

We have to make sure there's no illegal contraband coming in. We also get stuff coming in at the airport and at the U.S. postal Service. If we don't do that, then we face what's called an NPM adjustment.

And what that is, is, there's about a billion and a half this year that can be fought over, between the tobacco companies and the states. Some states have lost. I think Pennsylvania lost over 200 million when they lost a recent one. We have settled, but we're out of settlement.

So, the risk to us is, if we're not funded enough, and right now, we're kind of underfunded, then we could lose an arbitration. And as an example, Hawaii got 40 million last year, or the year before, 36 million the past year. That's MSA money.

If we were to go to arbitration and they were able—the tobacco industry was able—to show that we did not diligently enforce the Master Settlement Agreement to keep out contraband and things like that, then they could—we would—lose approximately half of our MSA.

So, for instance, if we did a 2025 arbitration, let's say we're getting 32 million, we would lose 30—16—million, approximately. So, that's specifically my unit, and as I noted, the other parts of the special funds are all in trouble because these were—it's been 14 years now since the cigarette taxes have been raised, and you can imagine that the health costs to all of us have not gone down in 14 years.

So, that's a big concern. Anyway, I'm rambling. Any further questions?

So, for the—what is the current budget? What is the current budget for your enforcement unit, and is it 100%-funded through the Master Settlement Fund?

So, we get $350,000 a year from the MSA, until this year. So, we had a bill passed last session and so, we will get $750,000. Recently, the personnel costs with B—bargaining units—going up, raises going up, those have outpaced our income.

So, we get a chunk from the MSA money. So, every year in April, Hawaii gets millions of dollars in MSA money, and we get part of that. And then the rest of our money is all Cigarette Tax Stamp revenue, and that has dropped—and it's in my testimony—it's dropped drastically, and every year, we're seeing it drop. Every month we're seeing it drop.

So, we are underfunded at the moment, and that puts Hawaii at risk for arbitration.

Just final question, Chair. Just if you can address the previous testifier's comment about what you found if—about on, what is AG currently finding that's on the black market?

If it does—what kind of enforcement do you do to try and track what's out there, who's doing illegal sales, and how to prevent it from getting into the wrong hands? Who shouldn't be using these products?

Sorry. We are—Hawaii right now is part of a group of states that are doing a huge project to crack down on the Internet sales, including a lot of Chinese vapes, that are unauthorized by the FDA, are coming in. So, we sent out 800-plus letters in mid-January, warning the retailers and distributors that those are illegal.

We're not seeing a lot. Usually, it comes in at the airport, not so many packs, but we know at the harbor, there are things coming in that we're never going to see. And that's true across all states. We have been working with the FDA to start a new program. They cancelled our meeting last week.

So, we'll see how it goes with them. But we aren't seeing a lot of contraband because of our enforcement—that, that's been pretty tight. So, we used to have a lot of criminal cases and we're not seeing that.

Okay, thank you, Rep. La Chica. Members, any other questions? House Bill 441. If not, I have one for Dr. Ueno.

Hi, Dr. Ueno. One of the testifiers earlier said that the Cancer Center was supposed to—or by design, supposed to be self-sustaining. Is that actually correct? Are any of the NCI centers self-sustaining?

That is not correct. There has—there is no single NCI-designated cancer center it's self-sustained. It has mixture of different funding, including, usually, from the state. In terms of the percentages, it's different depending on the place that—how the cancer center is structured. So, the premise of this—I hear constantly that this place has to be self-sustainable.

And that is really something that's not feasible under the—particularly for us. It is a very complicated situation, because we have a very unique setting working with a health system, and we do not have our own hospital.

And 10 years ago, that we were not—there was an agreement with alleged, as well as hospital, that we will not build our own clinic. And that puts ourselves in an even more difficult position, because we do not have any downstream revenue.

Okay, thank you for clarifying. And since you're here, we're going to transition to the next bill, House Bill 1085. Oh, sorry Dr. Ueno, could you just... Dr. Ueno. Sorry, since you were standing there, we're going to transition to the next bill in a second. But between the two bills, House Bill 441 and House Bill 1085, does the cancer center have a preference?

We always prefer the larger amount of money.

Which, for the record, is the next bill.

Okay, that is our position. We support both. And if you're willing to give us both, we will take both.

Okay, thank you Dr. Ueno. Members, any other questions? House Bill 441, HDI. Seeing none, we'll transition to the last bill of the agenda, House Bill 1085, HD1 relating to taxation. As previously noted, this is an Administration bill. This bill increases the tax rates for cigarettes and little cigars beginning 1-1-26.

Amends the disposition of tax revenues to certain non-General Funds starting from FY26-27 with the excess carrying over to the General Fund and expands the disposition of tax revenues to the non-General Funds to include all tobacco product taxes. Repeals obsolete historical tax rates. And this has a defective date, Members, of 7-1-3000. Up first... Sorry Dr. Ueno, I should ask you to stay up here as well. Obviously testifying in support.

Yes, thank you, Chair and Vice Chair and the Committee Member. Mahalo for the opportunities. So we stand on this testimony and it is the same reason that we really like to make a difference. One, as already testified by the other bill. That one is to reduce the cigarette smoking, to reduce the cigarette related smoking. But in addition to the investment to the cancer center and to the general community about making a difference is what we have an agenda about. So yes. So yes, we do support this bill.

Okay, thank you. Next, Department of the Attorney General, Deputy AG Stacey testifying in support.

Thank you. I was trying to extend my parking since it expires in a few minutes, but it's fine. So again, this is similar. This is the one that is Governor's package. We did work on it basically in last session. A version of the UH one you heard, which is 441, was heard and it morphed into something where they were trying to include vape taxes. So what we did is as soon as the session ended we started having meetings with all the stakeholders. We did with DOTAX, University of Hawaii, Department of Health, and Budget and Finance.

We had a lot of meetings and we were trying to figure out how we can fix it. So Act 62 was passed two sessions ago, and it went into effect January of 2018, I mean 2024, as far as taxing vape products, which had never happened before. But what it didn't do is it didn't allocate any of those tax revenues toward the beneficiaries, such as like the cancer center. So those have all been going to the General Fund, which is great.

But the beneficiaries of the cigarette tax revenues, we wanted to, and the Legislature seemed to want to last session make that apply here also. So this would have a bigger pool of revenue. And we had an intern from University of Hawaii who's now at Department of Health, and we were talking to him the other day.

He said, well it's not really e-cigs now, it's pouches. So. And I've seen it, I've seen it on the Maui basketball thing. There was a big banner ad across saying one of the pouches. So these are nicotine pouches, not really regulated. But this version would tax them.

And it's kind of like I used to represent narcotics enforcement where they always change drugs like bath salts and we're always trying to keep up with them. So this would keep all those vape products pouches as tobacco products. They move into the tax structure and then the beneficiaries would get it. And then we also, we strongly support it. We want cigarette taxes raised. It's been, like I said, 14 years and we wish that you pass it. Available for questions.

Thank you. Up next, Department of Health.

Good afternoon, Chair, Members of the Committee. I'm Lola Irvin representing Dr. Kenny Fink for the Department of Health. And I am so glad that my colleagues have come before me to explain the structure of this bill. So the reason Department of Health is involved is because this is a proven public health strategy.

Increase the price of the tobacco products, and youth are less likely to start and adults will quit. We're also here to help people quit. So I think Deputy Attorney General Rich Stacey talked about the tobacco settlement dollars. So 12.5% go to the Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund.

So if you have seen the ads to encourage people to quit smoking, that's what it's paying for. And if you met people at the community health centers who are getting in person support to quit smoking or to prevent youth from quitting, that's what it's paying for. And it's all evaluated.

We do continuous improvement and it goes to every county, every island. And so we make every effort to make sure that the entire state and everybody benefits from this. So we're here when, should this pass, we're here to support people to quit smoking because it's the best thing to do. And we did participate and we did get acknowledgement from the beneficiaries that they would also support this. So we thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support.

Okay, thank you. Up next, Hawaii Public Health Institute testifying in support.

Aloha. Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, and Members of the Committee. Kevin Ramirez, again, the Program Manager for the Coalition for Tobacco Free Hawaii, which is a program of the Hawaii Public Health Institute, here to testify in support for HB 1085, HD1. Raising taxes on tobacco products is a proven strategy to help reduce tobacco product use and dependence and can be a benefit for public health. Recent polling shows strong voter support.

According to an independent poll conducted by Ward Research on behalf of the Coalition, 78% of registered Hawaii voters support an increase in cigarette taxes and 89% feel that it is important for the state to dedicate part of its tobacco tax revenue to support tobacco prevention and cessation programs.

Populations that continue to experience higher rates of smoking would be the primary beneficiaries of these prevention and cessation activities, helping to provide resources needed to quit smoking and to help cut the high costs associated with tobacco use. We humbly ask that a portion of the proposed tobacco tax revenue be dedicated to support tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support of HB 1085, HD1. Mahalo.

Thank you. Up next, ACS Cancer Action Network. Ms. Au testifying in support.

Thank you, Chair, Vice Chairs, and Committee Members. Cynthia Au with American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, or ACS CAN. I don't want to repeat what I said for House Bill 441, but I want to thank the Committee for considering increasing the cigarette tax by a dollar per pack or 5 cents per stick. The increase of cigarette taxes by a dollar will help youth from starting and to help adults quit. The cancer center plays an important role to help the people of Hawaii reduce the cancer burden in the state and especially for our diverse population. Thank you.

Thank you. Next we'll transition to Zoom, starting with DOTAX providing comments.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Winston Wong on behalf of the Department of Taxation. The Department stands on its written testimony offering comments on this bill, which is an Administration measure. We also note that, aside from the defective date, the Department can administer the measure as written with the proposed effective date of January 1, 2026. Mahalo.

Okay, thank you. Up next, Tax Foundation of Hawaii. Mr. Yamachika providing comments.

Thank you very much, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Tom Yamachika from Tax Foundation of Hawaii. Our concerns, again, are with the funding mechanism. We do note, as we did in the prior measure, that the tobacco tax generally is declining over time. And that's, again, reflective of what the Attorney General said. It also is disproportionately impacting the lower sectors of the population in as much as a 10 to 1 ratio, as I mentioned for the other bill. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much for the opportunity.

Thank you. Up next, did the American Lung Association join us since the last bill? Seeing not. They provided testimony in support. Up next, Americans for Tax Reform in opposition. Not present. Thank you. I believe that is all that we have registered to testify. Is there anyone in the room wishing to do so?

House Bill 1085, HD1. Seeing none. Anyone else via Zoom? Seeing none either there. Members, questions? House Bill 1085, HD1. I think everyone's ready to go to the Punahou Carnival. Okay, with that. Before we recess, I just wanted to acknowledge in the front row, the presence of Josh Faumuina, who's the latest member of the Board of Regents. Thank you for joining us today. Okay, with that, recess.

Okay, Members, thank you for having an awesome road trip today. Field trip to the University of Hawaii Campus. Again, thank you to the team at the University of Hawaii for hosting us in this beautiful room here that the Board of Regents just utilized yesterday. We're now going to transition into decision making for today's agenda.

Again, we have 11 bills up for today. First Bill, House Bill 542 relating to the University of Hawai'I Promise program. We are very compelling testimony for students who joined us today on the benefits of this program. As I noted earlier, you know, I'm not ready to concede narrowing the scope of this program.

I'd like to continue to see if we can help as many students as possible receive a high quality education here at the UH. So with that, you know, I'll do, I do note that the Bill already contains a blank appropriation, so the only suggested amendment is a defective date of 7-1-3000. To facilitate further discussion.

Members, any questions, comments, concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote please. HD1.

Thank you Chair. Voting on HB 542. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair and Vice Chair vote aye. Representative Evslin. Excused. Representative Kapela. Aye. Representative Kila. Aye. Representative La Chica. Aye. Representative Olds. Aye. Representative Sayama. Aye. Representative Woodson. Yes. Representative Muraoka. Excused. Representative Souza. Thank you Chair. Your recommendation is adopted.

Okay, thank you Vice Chair. Next Bill, House Bill 840. This is relating to University of Hawaii athletics. You know, we heard from two ADs today. AD Manning, thank you for joining us in person. As well as AD Guillen from UH, Hilo.

We know there's historically been some funding challenges with the athletics program, but you know, I would like to see this Bill proceed. The recommendation for the HD one is to blank out the appropriations that are currently listed along with the FTE amount and we will add a defective date of 7-1-3000 to facilitate further discussion. Members, any questions, comments, concerns?

Seeing none. I'm sorry and we will note ask the Finance Committee through the Committee report to consider the the position counts that are currently specially funded. Members, any discussion? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote please. HD1.

Thank you Chair. Voting on HB840. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments noting the excused absence of Representatives Evslin and Muraoka for the remainder of the hearing. Are there any Members voting with reservations? Any Members voting no? Seeing none. Thank you, Chair. Your recommendation is adopted.

Okay, thank you, Members. Next Bill. House Bill 842 related to mental health at the University of Hawaii. This is the Bill that appropriated monies and three FTEs specifically for the Manoa campus. We know this is an acute need on every single campus, not just in college, but also in high schools and below.

The recommendation here, just to keep the discussion going, is to do an HD1 with blanking out the FTE counts and noting that the Bill already has a blank appropriation. We would also like to add a defective date of 7-1-3000 to facilitate further discussion. Members, any questions, comments, concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote please. HD1.

Thank you Chair. Voting on HB842. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Are there any Members voting no? Any Members with reservations? Thank you Chair. Your recommendation is adopted.

Okay, thank you, Vice Chair. Next Bill is House Bill 1170, Administration Bill, relating to the University of Hawaii resident tuition fee. I just want to commend the University for making it easier for local students to apply. They recently waived their application fee. My daughter went through this experience herself and got a response back in a day.

So I know the UH is trying to encourage local kids to stay here and attend University. The testimony was, let's see here. Excuse me, Sorry. Just noting that there is no appropriation or anything else in that sense. So the recommendation here is an HD1 with a defective date of 7-1-3000 to facilitate further discussion. Members, any questions, comments, concerns?

Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote please, HD1.

Thank you Chair. Voting on HB 1170. Chair's recommendation passed with amendments. Any Members voting no? Any Members with reservations? Thank you, Chair. Your recommendation is adopted.

Okay, thank you, Members. Next Bill, House Bill 1171 relating to the University employee relief funding. Let's hope the University never has to issue this kind of student aid tied to disaster response. But I commend the University for wanting to do so.

Right now, It's certainly not fair to punish students a second time by having this count against their financial aid allocation. The Bill does not have any appropriations, so what we'll do is just make a defective aid of 7-1-3000 to facilitate further discussion. Members, any discussion? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote please. HD1.

Thank you Chair. Voting on HB 1171. Chair's recommendation passed with amendments. Anyone voting no? Anyone with reservations? Thank you, Chair. Your recommendation is adopted.

Okay, thank you, Vice Chair and Members. Next Bill, House Bill 1345 relating to teacher education. Members, you'll recall this is the Bill that would require the Board of Regents to grant a waiver on the tuition for the semester that students are enrolled in a state approved teacher education program.

Noting the testimony from the UH concerned about the possible cost impacts. You know, one of the things that I pledge to the other chancellors outside of the Manoa campus is that I wanted to make sure that we did not operate with a Manoa specific framework.

So the suggestion here is to pass an HD1, including the University of Hawaii at Hilo, as well as UH, West Oahu. We will reflect that just to make sure that any four year college, any student enrolled in a four year college with an education program, is eligible for this.

Noting, you know, the budget impacts are not clear at this point but. But we will seek that information from VP Halbert. So with that we will also include a defective date of 7-1-3000 to facilitate further discussion. Members, any discussion? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote please. HD1.

Thank you Chair voting on HB 1345. Chair's recommendation passed with amendments. Any Members with voting now. Any Members with reservations. Thank you Chair. Your recommendation is adopted.

Okay, thank you Members. Next Bill. House Bill 442 relating to the University of Hawaii. This Bill appropriates funds to the UH system for various nursing programs. This Bill was introduced to make the UH whole from the amounts that of their budget that did not make it into the Governor's Budget but was approved by the Board of Regents.

We're all very familiar with the acute nursing shortage here. We want to support the UH and other community colleges in helping stock that pipeline. The recommendation for the HD1 is to blank out the appropriation amounts and ask the Finance Committee to consider that appropriate amount at the next hearing.

And also include a defective date of 7-1-3000 to facilitate further discussion. Members, any questions, comments, or concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote please. HD1.

Thank you Chair. Voting on HB442. Chair's recommendation is passed with amendments. Are there any Members voting no? Any Members with reservations? Thank you Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Okay, thank you Vice Chair. Members, next Bill. House Bill 843 relating to CTAHR. This is a Bill in three sections, sets up the funding, 5 million for the Waimanalo Research Station, 6 million for the Magoon Research Station for the Controlled Environment Agriculture, as well as funding for 20 positions.

Want to thank Dean Grewal for being here and about a month ago taking me on a visit, I saw Magoon Research Center for myself. Clearly, you know, if we're serious about food security, we need a strong and thriving CTAHR to support that.

And when I walked through the campus, with all due respect Dean, I was pretty mortified at the condition. I know that's not unique to Magoon, and I appreciate Rep Capel's concerns about funding for other areas too. And hopefully this is just the first step. And we look forward to supporting you, Dean, in that sense.

So, that being said, just to facilitate further discussion and to ask Finance Committee to figure out the appropriate amounts for these 3 areas, we will be blanking those amounts out and adding a defective date of 7-1-3000 to facilitate further discussion. Members, any questions, comments, or concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote please. HD1.

Thank you. Chair voting on HB843. Chair's recommendation is to pass with amendments. Any Members voting no? Any Members with reservations? Thank you, Chair. Recommendation is adopted.

Thank you Vice Chair. Members next Bill is House Bill 643 HD1. This is relating to the Coconut Rhinoceros FETO program. We did receive comments or suggested changes from the Attorney General's Office. I did check in with the Chair of the Agriculture and Food Systems Committee who gave prior concurrence to adopt their recommendations.

So, Members, just as a reminder, what the AG suggested that we do is to add a paragraph stating that this issue is that of a statewide concern. This just clarifies any possible concerns over, UH, autonomy and the Legislature's role in this.

The AG also did provide recommended language in their testimony regarding setting up grant standards to allow money to flow into the community. For this, we did take a look at their section. So I just want to say number four is probably not necessary, is not necessary. So we will delete that section out of their testimony.

Other than that, I'll note that the Bill already has a defective date and that the Bill, the appropriation amounts are currently blank. Members, any questions, comments, or concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote please. HD2.

Thank you. Chair voting on HB643. HD1. Chair's recommendation passed with amendments. Are there any Members voting no? Any Members with reservations? Thank you, Chair. Recommendation is adopted.

Okay, thank you. Members. Two more bills to go. House Bill 441, HD1, relating to cigarette taxes. For this Bill, It did come over from the Health Committee, I did confer with the Health Chair, Chair Takayama. In this Bill, it currently includes the tax amounts. I did check in with the Finance Chair.

Chair Yamashita earlier today, the recommendation or the request of us was to amend the Bill again. Prior concurrence from Chair Takayama to blank out the cigarette tax amounts and allow the Finance Committee to make any adjustments as necessary. So we will do that.

Other than that, I will note that this Bill already has an defective date of 7-1-3000. So again, the only recommended changes here are to blank out the suggested tax amounts. Members, any questions, comments, concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote please HD2.

Thank you Chair voting on HB441 HD1 Chair's recommendation passed with amendments. Any Members voting no? Any Members with reservations? Thank you Chair. Your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you Vice Chair. Members last Bill, House Bill 1085 HD1 relating to taxation. As Dr. Ueno noted, this does provide a larger pool of funding by capturing e cigarette and other types of tobacco products. We will also recommend an HD2 for this.

Similarly deleting out the General Fund amount or the blanking out the appropriations, noting that it already has a defective date and the Chair's inclination at this point is to pass this Bill over to Finance as well and ask Chair Yamashita to figure out which is the appropriate vehicle to meet the intended purpose here.

So, Members, with that House Bill 1085 HD2. Vice Chair for the vote please.

Thank you. Chair voting on HB 1085 HD1. Chair's recommendation passed with amendments. Are there any Members voting? No. Any Members with reservations? Thank you Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Okay, with that everyone, thank you for joining us today on the beautiful campus of UH Manoa.

This hearing is adjourned.