Senate Standing Committee on Higher Education

Call the Committee on Higher Education to order. Today is Thursday, February 6th, 3:00 p.m. we're in conference room 329. And this meeting is being streamed live on YouTube.

And in the likely event we've got to abruptly leave this hearing due to technical difficulties, the Committee will reconvene to discuss any outstanding issues on Tuesday, February 11th at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 229. And a public notice will be posted on the legislative website. There is a two minute time limit for testifier.

And so we will start off with our 3 p.m. agenda which is decision making only. And we don't have a quorum yet, but as soon as we do, I do have some questions. Senate Bill 663 was deferred from the last hearing or last two hearings.

And this is relating to the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. This is for positions at the College of Tropical AG, eight full time equivalents and four technical technician positions equivalent for community coordinator positions.

We had asked that we were given further information regarding vacant positions and any other positions that possibly could be used for these positions instead of giving you new positions. And we ask that this information be given. And I received an email this morning at 7:56 a.m. and all I got was this email with attachments.

And what was said was that we found a total of 56 vacant unfunded positions. These positions were previously supported on federal funds associated with specific projects that are no longer available. Therefore, we plan to abolish these unfunded positions. We also found 39 vacant positions as of today, of which 12 are faculty positions.

All of these 39 positions are currently in different phases of recruitment. But I didn't receive the positions. I don't know how they're being recruited. I don't know what they're being recruited for. I don't have any idea as to the fill date.

And so at that I'm going to defer this again because until you give us more information that we asked for, you had a week to do this. Provost Bruno, I don't know why we don't get the information. If you want the positions, then you should be giving it to us.

Chair, Apologies. I think that was not clear as to the. I think the college was looking at this as more of an informal inquiry and not a. Not a formal response to the Committee. So for that I apologize. But we have all of the details.

Did you watch the hearing?

I did not.

Okay, then you would have known that it was not just an inquiry.

Yeah, yeah.

That's why we deferred it because you know that I look at all the. I look at all the vacant positions and I wanted to see where the position are or what the fill dates are.

Yeah, we have the position numbers, the position types, how long they've been vacant, and the State of the recruitment for each one. And there's a number of them that will be abolished. And then, like was indicated by the dean in his email, a number, I think 39 that are in recruitment.

And we have the information on where they are in the recruitment, and we can share that with the Committee.

Okay, well, this is what. Should have shared it with me.

Yeah, I apologize.

I apologize. So I'm going to recommend that we defer this measure.

Can we defer the measure until we get the information? We've all had a chance to review it because it's, you know, frustrating to. Sit here and Committee and then be. Given information, try to read it and make sense of it in the few minutes.

Yeah, well, we didn't even get it, so.

Yeah, so.

Okay, so we're going to move on to the next Item, Senate Bill 672 relating to capital improvement projects. And this is for the Waimanaui Research Station. And we ask that Jan Gouveia, who. I'm glad to see you here. So CTAHR is asking for 4 million increase. I want to increase it to 5.5 million for the animal science.

This is for. I guess the question I asked is, why wasn't this part of your CIP request?

So it primarily comes down to timing. I think by the time Parwinder or the dean of CTAHR was able to gather the necessary information that would be detailed enough for our office to assist in putting together a budget request that was all done after our deadlines. So it's basically timing, but my understanding.

Is that this has been needed for a while. It's been sitting there in disrepair. Is that correct? I mean.

The details of this project I've only recently learned more about, but up until this bill, I would say we've been monitoring. We've been working with the college to come up with a broader plan for all of their research facilities, this being one of them.

Well, that's kind of what we wanted to see. We have so many CTAHR bills wanting to see a global picture. So is the University ready to decide that this is the one measure we should be moving forward on this point?

I am. I am not that. I'm not. I am not personally able to make that determination, but ultimately it does. It's the Board of Regents. It is the Board of Regents approved budget. So at some point in time, we will be submitting it to the board.

Okay, so you're, you're saying that we should defer this until the board looks at it?

No, I mean, I think that there is. If there are other Members outside of the University community who support this measure, we likewise support it from that standpoint.

Okay, so what of your CIP priorities? Should we delete so we could add this one in?

I would say none of them.

Okay, so you're not ready to propose this as one of your CIP priorities?

I cannot propose it as a board. I don't propose. It's not my CIP budget. Right. It's the Board of Regents approved CIP budget that was approved by the board in November of 2024. I do not believe I have the authority to unilaterally switch projects around.

Okay, so would this be a proposal that you would submit to them and would it be part of your priority.

List, this upcoming budget cycle, the supplemental budget year? I don't have enough information at this time to. Honestly, I don't. We're still. We need to. I do believe we need planning money. The construction funding is probably not appropriate at this time.

We have met with the Dean a couple days ago and so we do think some of this funding should be re purposed to do the design and planning efforts so that we can actually come up with a more feasible project description with the timeline. Because I don't, I have no ability to make that determination right now.

We don't have enough information. Neither do we.

Right, understood. So you're, you're responsible or the University for these projects and then you come here to us and if you can't make that decision, then why is it coming to us and then saying that you don't want this to affect or impact priorities indicated to the Board of Regents approved budget?

And yet if we have to, I mean, I think this is a, this is good project. I think it's been long time in the coming, but you know, it's the University and the University keeps saying, zero, we're micromanaging and why are we putting stuff in that we didn't include in our budget and, and so forth.

You know, we get criticized for that and yet we get these requests and it doesn't come from you guys. So I want to know where it sits in the priority and where are we. Because we don't want to approve something that you folks haven't even looked at or even.

Yeah, this is not a University introduced measure. So in that regard. Yeah, it cannot be prioritized over what's already been approved by the Board of Regents.

Okay, questions? Any other questions? Okay, if that. Then, Members, I'm going to also defer this measure until we get from the University direction as to how it fits into all of your priorities. With that, we are going into our agenda, our 305 agenda. This is Senate Bill 557 relating to health requires the University of Hawaii, John A.

Burns School of Medicine, Jabson to direct Huli Aioli to conduct a study on physician and dentist recruitment and retention to serve the island of molokai. We have McKenna Woodward in support from office Hawaiian Affairs. Kelly Withey for the University of Hawaii in person. Comments?

Aloha, Chair. Vice Chair. Senator, I'm just gonna stand on testimony. I'm Kelly Withey at the Johnny Burns School of Medicine and I run the Area Health Education Center. Okay. And this bill, you support this measure? Well, we provided testimony. It's a valuable research project, but just like your last discussion, we hadn't had it in our budget.

I see. Okay. Very good. Thank you.

So I would be happy to help them with it.

Okay. Candice Park, Deputy AG.

Good afternoon, Chair. Vice Chair, Member. We. I'm sorry. If the intent is to provide a 42F grant, then we provided language to make it a 42F grant. Okay, thank you.

I saw that. I see that language, so thank you for that. Okay, we have Eric Abe in support, Diane Paloma in support. I see him here. Kimberly Mikami Svetin. I don't know if I said that correct. Aloha. Can you say your last name? Can you hear me? Yes. You can tell us your last name.

Okay. It's Kimberly Mikami Svetin. And for some reason my testimony from yesterday wasn't uploaded. I'm Kimberly Mikami Svetin, a Molokai native who attended Molokai public schools and returned home almost 20 years ago to manage our family owned pharmacy. As a rural health care provider, access to high quality healthcare services is our mission at Moloka E Drugs.

I am testifying in favor of SB557 which will require Jabsom to direct Huli Au Oli to conduct a study on physician and dentist recruitment and and retention to serve the island of Molokai. Currently, we have no Molokai raised physicians practicing on island. They have all decided to practice elsewhere.

We have a double board certified Doctor practicing at Massachusetts General Hospital and teaching at Harvard Medical School. Another top adolescent psychiatrist who is a Molokai High alumna practices in Honolulu. We also have three Molokai doctors working in Texas, two Kamehameha Schools graduates and one Molokai High alumnus.

The late physician Noah Emmett Aluli was my doctor since his passing two years ago. I am now on my fourth primary care physician. It is very difficult to retain physicians unless you offer housing or discounted housing, medical school, student loan repayment and respectable salaries.

I'm not sure you know that for the bulk of Molokai residents it now costs about $215 for one dental cleaning. In 2024 we had four dentists. As of the beginning of the year we have two dentists and one locum. Two of our three dentists on Molokai no longer accept dental insurance.

The Molokai Community Health center accepts dental insurance but it is as much as a 5 month waiting for cleaning. We pay for 100 of the dental premiums for my staff at Molokai Drugs. However, most have stopped going to the dentist or see dentists on Maui and Oahu. I'm here for any comments. Thank you for reading my testimony.

Thank you. We have a dean of medical school. Yes. oh, okay. Thank you. Sherry Menor with the chamber in person testimony and support. Okay. We have about 10 others in support. Anyone here wishing to testify that I didn't call on hearing? None Members questions?

I haven't been able to testify. I'm online from Molokai.

Oh, okay. Can you identify yourself please?

Yes, I'm Rosie Davis. I'm the Director of Huli Au Ola, Maui County Area Health Education Center.

Okay, please proceed Rosie.

So I submitted this bill with the hopes of conducting a study. We've identified a lot of the issues but a lot of it is in talk story kind of process and we really want to be able to help our community.

We have serviced about over maybe 1200 students over the last 20 years that I've been a Director and presently my youngest daughter is was able to shadow Dr. Emed Aluli. She is in medical school and she will return back to Molokai. However, we do not have physicians, it's hard to retain them.

So we want to be able to begin that process to be able not only to put it in writing to identify and do the research and collect the data. Presently we do mini clinics for the students and we also do partner with telehealth to provide some relief. But I have to echo and ditto what Kim said.

We would really appreciate your support to pass this bill. As you know our transportation issues, we Only have Mokulele airline. And like Kim said, we only have very limited positions here. My daughter that will come back, she hunts, fishes. She loves this life. But not everybody enjoys a life on mo.

We do not have the malls or the fast food or we live a lot off the land and we want to keep it that way. But we do need the help in order to get physicians to help us here and dentists. We appreciate your support.

We hope that this will be able that we can work together the community with you folks. Much aloha. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to testify on this measure hearing? None. Questions? Members, I have a question. If I can have Japson.

Yes. We think it'd be simpler for it to go to Huli Au Ola, the organization that Rosie Davis represents.

Okay, how about how we would Jabson say that we should address this issue of physician and dentist recruitment?

Well, we have a full report that talks about the physician workforce and many of the resources that we need which were mentioned. Loan repayment, we have. Thank you. Housing support. We definitely need transportation, a huge issue there. And then we need for them telehealth, easy access, trusting the providers that are on the other end.

We need more allied health folks to go there as well as doctors. There is a whole. We could put together a very nice plan that would apply to many, many of the rural areas and I'd be happy to work with them.

So do we need a study then to do this?

They want to study.

Well, have you been working with them and showing them the plan and how?

Yes, and ours is for doct and.

Then, you know, the students, how we funnel the students to get to Molokai and get them to, you know, spend their time through the tuition.

Tuition, the help loan repayment program. Yes. And as Rosie mentioned, she has 1,200 kids who've gone through our programs and we're hoping to get them back on island. But as they also mentioned, they don't all come back.

So yes, we will work with them no matter what and develop a plan for especially Molokai Lahaina, the very rural areas.

In decision making probably want to keep us alive, but also hope that you guys will get together.

Absolutely.

Have you guys worked with the Department of Health at all?

Yes, we work with kind of assistance that they can able to offer. Well, they have. Rosie might be able to answer that better because she's on the ground. But they're always very supportive. But they don't have specific physicians or dentists who can go there. Okay, thank you.

Questions? Thank you.

Thank you.

We will move on to Senate Bill 1107. This establishes a medical education liaison position within the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine to support programs that utilize a team of medical specialists to support primary care providers and healthcare professions through mentorship and guidance. So we have, again, for the medical schools, Shoemaker.

I get to testify on the things that aren't in the UH package. And he's going to tell you what. We really need next. But our comments, we rest on our comments.

Who's going to tell us?

The dean.

Okay. Dean is up.

Chair Kim, Vice Chair Kidani, Members, we do stand on our written testimony. However, I will also say that we're not in favor of this Bill.

Okay.

Because we don't believe that it addresses a problem that can be fixed in this way.

So what is the problem and what way you think we should fix it?

We don't think there is a problem. We do have five Echo clinics in Hawaii, and they're actually administered by Hawaii State Rural Health Association, which is a private nonprofit based on Big Island. UH, itself is not an Echo hub. We're not really a provider of this very beneficial distance education program.

So we would recommend they go through Hawaii State Rural Health Association, and then we can assist, as we do already for many of the Echo clinics.

Did you by any chance talk with the author of this measure?

No, we don't know who the. I mean, we know who introduced him, but we don't know the actual author. We.

Well, that's the author at this point, right? Who introduced it. Senator Rhodes, this measure. Okay.

If there's no other testimony, thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't read everybody. I didn't go down the list. Okay. AG. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Thanks, Chair, Members of the, Committee Member. We recommend identifying the Bill as a law statewide concern. And we recognize. Excuse me. And we recommend inserting standards for the issuance of the grant. Thank you.

Thank you. Aaron Rudick. Support. Eric. Abe. In support. Anika Martin. Daniel Saltman. Jack, Jason Yaris. All in support. Anyone else here wishing justify on this measure? Anybody on Zoom wanting to testify? If not Members, questions? Further questions? None? Okay, we're moving on to Senate Bill 1204, starting with Michael Bruno. Oh, President's here. I thought she wasn't coming. Sorry.

Okay, well, we'd love to have you. Welcome.

So, Senator, after the budget hearing a few weeks ago, a team of us gathered to discuss the various issues that were raised. Among them, the issues related to the Kakaako campus.

At the conclusion of that meeting, the President asked me to assemble whatever essential internal and possibly external people partners we need to to develop an actual plan and a timeline over which we can implement a plan to more strongly integrate the units that reside on the Kakaako campus with the aim of both achieving better success, even better success, I should say, in providing cancer care here in Hawaii and medical education.

They are related and identify and take advantage of efficiencies, administrative, organizational, utilities and all the rest. Of course, I said yes. Now you have the President here.

I appreciate the conversation that we've been having about certainly the longevity of the cancer center and the efficiency of having the medical school and the cancer center situated adjacent to each other but not necessarily integrated and agree that it's important that we be responsible and evaluate how best to continue to carry out those operations efficiently.

So we are in the process of doing that. We would ask that you give us time to do that, especially because there are significant academic issues that are involved that will require consultation with academic stakeholders.

And so we respectfully hope that you will consider withdrawing the Bill as we are happy to report back as we move through this process, which we will bring a recommendation to a decision prior to the session.

Next session.

I. Well, prior to. You mean next January. I mean that certainly would be my hope. I think we're still in the planning process of identifying it, whether we need an external consultant to come in and actually bring in some expertise on this issue that we may not have in house.

If that happens, it may take a little longer. But obviously given the stakes of the number one, the only maybe medical school on site and creating the physicians for the state as well as the cancer center that's in the top 40% of the country. We have to get it right for the people of the State of Hawaii.

And I did defer this measure last year because I was told that we would have something understood. So if I sound skeptical and so I do want to for the record and for your information, President, so you can understand where Committee is coming from.

So I am going to read some expert except excerpts from the Committee on Independent Audit meeting January 272016 of the Board of Regents, where President Lassner remarked that the center has been a primary subject of attention during his tenure and that soon after as an interim President became apparent that the center needed attention because the center's expenditures substantially exceeded its revenues and what substantial reserves are declining precipitously.

He recounted how the Legislature last January and Now this is 2016 grilled him. That's his words.

And that he had not been provided with a clear path forward and a plan that he was confident would balance the budget, achieve success with the NCI designation and take the center forward to provide the cancer care he believed the State University and community had invested in.

In the fall, he requested the board support in submitting a request to the Legislature even though there was still no plan. Okay, this is 2016. And he said that he was delighted when the Governor agreed to support 4 million of the $5 million requested.

He comments that he has come more slowly than he had hoped and expected and the path had been torturous with twisted turns. Also that a business plan or bridge plan was prepared by Jerry Hedges, interim Director of the center. And they had selected Navigant, who then partnered with Warbird Consulting partners. And Warbird developed this plan.

Two phase engagement. The engagement was made using private funds from the University Foundation and a purchase order issued to Warbird. And the phase was completed in November of 2015 as planned. @ that time, the external consultant assessment proposed a long term business plan that would involve the creation of the enterprise model.

Extensive discussion ensued about why the report was withheld from the regents and not provided in November's region promise. Concerns about regions being asked to support 5 million legislative requests without the report.

And then a motion recommended the board create a region task force for the purpose of helping the Administration form a business plan in regards to the center having been moved and seconded and so forth.

And so, you know, this is the events back from 2016 and then year after year we brought it up and I just want to make it clear for those testifying said that this is my proposal. It's actually not my proposal, it's the University's proposal that we're putting in because we've received no other plan.

And so leave us with luck. So without anything to really work with at this point. And we see that you're coming in and asking for monies for debt service, asking monies to increase the tax, and yet there's no plan.

Yeah. So you're just. Your frustration is certainly justified. I didn't realize it went quite that far back. So thank you for that information. I think the most important piece to stress here is that we began the process immediately after we left the last budget hearing.

We did not begin that process because we were hopeful that you would withdraw the Bill. We began that process because it's necessary to do so for the University. And we will get it done.

I want you to know that. I know as a new President we certainly want to give you this opportunity. I appreciate that. We want the University to take the lead on this, which is what we've been asking for. I don't want to be the one to have to take a study that you.

That the foundation paid for and that we have to implement and get criticized by people saying that this is our plan because it's not our plan. Right. So just to let you know that certainly. So with that, I'm going to let whoever's here run to ones need to testify and then we'll come back with questions. Okay.

So, Cynthia Au, American Cancer Society.

Hello, Chairs, Committee Members, Cynthia Au, on behalf of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, or ACS, can we stand on our written comments? And we are. The written comments just shows a little bit of concern that we might have with the bill, but we're just still figuring it out. So thank you.

And you're concerned that it's an endangered designation as a cancer center Institute and may impact NIH grant funding? Yes. Right. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Adila Adela. Adelia Dung. I'm sorry if I said your name wrong. Can you hear Lori Chun here? All these others are here. Let's see. I have Susan Hirano. She's here. Welcome.

Good afternoon. Chair, Vice Chair, Committee. My name is Susan Hirano. I'm here as a patient. I just wanted to bring a patient perspective to this Bill. The cancer center is providing clinical trials to patients like me with metastatic breast cancer, as well as different types of cancers.

The clinical trials are brought in once the standard of care no longer is working. And that's what's happening with me at the moment.

So, like myself and others who have to come from other islands or even on our island, we have to consider clinical trials on the mainland, which requires us to leave our families and our biggest support system during one of the most critical times of our lives.

So by having the cancer center enveloped under JABSOM, that would jeopardize the NCI designation that you heard about earlier, which would not allow the clinical trials to remain here in Hawaii. So that takes away care, closes the door for those of us who, that's our last hope.

So I'm just asking that you consider it from a patient perspective and see how much it affects not only me, but those of us in the same position, not just on this island, but on our neighboring islands.

We have so many local people who have issues getting to care as it is, so asking them to travel to the mainland is mostly impossible. So this is their last line of hope. So just asking that you consider that perspective. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate your testimony. Diane Ono. So, late testimony. Anyone else here wishing to testify on this measure? Anyone online wishing to testify on this measure? If not Dr. Syrmos, can I ask you a question?

The Vice President for research. Yes, Sir.

There's about what, 72 cancer centers, NCI designations across the country.

To that effect, how many of them are combined or integrated?

Yes.

From what I understand, half of them.

Half of them. So in their case, it didn't affect the NCI designation, right?

I don't think that there is anywhere in the P30, I mean, the NCI designation grant, the requirement that the cancer center and a medical school should be separate.

Okay, well, I just want to make that clear because almost every single testimony in opposition states that it's going to jeopardize the NCI. My understanding is that not the case if there are other many, as you said, almost half of them that has combined and has that designation.

Yeah. As I said at NIH, the P30 does not require that the cancer center, in order to be NCI designated, should be separate from the medical school.

And also I think in the past it was brought up that you could lose the designation if the director has to report to the medical school director or anybody else. Is there anything in the P20 that says that?

I think that what the P30 says, and both Sam and Naoto are here, it actually. It says that the Cancer Center Director is like a super chair. He is not like a chair of a department, but has its own. He or she has authority over their budget. They are hiring their positions. So there is independence.

But that doesn't preclude from reporting either to a dean of a medical school or to a chancellor.

Right. Because I went through all those combined and I looked at who they reported to, and many of them reported to the dean of the medical school. And then it says the role of the cancer center director is to be superior to that of other department chairs. Correct. There are clear responsibilities.

But there is nothing that says the Director cannot report to the dean of the medical school or other senior clinical administrators.

You obviously have it in front of you. Yes, that's what's the guideline is.

Well, I just want you to say that so that every. I'm not sure who's telling people that are testifying that it's going to jeopardize the NCI designation because it seems to be that that's false information at this point in time.

Right. It can be both ways. Either it can be independent or they can be reporting to a medical school.

Okay. I just want to be sure that we could get that on the record at this point. Thank you. Members, any questions? Hearing none. Okay. We will move on to Senate bills. 1204. No, we just done that. Right, 1204. First up, Bruno, was that 1204? Sorry, sorry. That was 12. It's been a long day. 1217.

You're right. Dr. Shoemaker. Justifying. University of Hawaii. This is relating to the positions of the John A. Burns School of Medicine Procreates Funds University for faculty positions in the field of cardiovascular biology, tropical medicine and quantitative health, biostatistics and environmental health and safety Officer position.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Chair Kim. Vice Chair Kidani. Members, Sam Shoemaker, Dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine. I will stand on our written testimony strongly in support of this measure and would be happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Okay, thank you, Christian. Fern. Okay, thank you. Anyone else wishing to testify in this measure? Members, any questions? Yeah. So can we get Shomaker back? So right now, is there no other position? I mean, no other vacant position for this?

The vacant positions that we have are under recruitment.

Every single one.

I can't swear that every single one is under recruitment, but we have a large number that are under recruitment. The other Thing I would add in support of this measure is that we had a conversation earlier in the week about the physician shortage.

In order to expand the medical school class size, we need more faculty to teach the additional medical students that we would like to bring into the medical school. And these faculty positions would be doing that teaching of the medical students.

So this position right now would bring us more students.

It would give us. It would be build towards allowing us to expand the medical school class size.

Just one position going to allow you to expand?

Nope, we're asking for three.

Three. Three positions. Three positions.

And just as a update, we are working on the report you requested and should have that relatively quickly.

Okay. And would you have any idea at this juncture how much more you would expand?

We can comfortably expand to 80 in the next three years and we believe that we can get to 90 in five years.

So you have 77 hours in five years. I mean three slots in five years.

It requires planning and additional infrastructure in order to add to the class size.

Any other questions, Members? If not, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, finally. Not finally, we got 1252 relating to dementia requires University of Hawaii border regions to establish a specialized training program to educate healthcare providers on methods to best care for patients having Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. So first up is Koby Chalk. All time is away.

Hello Senator Kim and Members of the Committee, Koby Chalk with the Alzheimer's Association. Senator Kim, just want to thank you for introducing this bill. I think as you know, it's so critical that we train our future healthcare workers and our current ones on the latest in dementia and Alzheimer's in care diagnosis and now treatment.

We are in the era of treatment where there's actually drugs that can slow the progression of the disease. But it really starts with early detection and all of the path that leads to that treatment, which requires several different health professions. Our testimony is in strong support, obviously.

But we did want to highlight some amendments that we proposed that will kind of define what the curriculum might include as well as the types of programs that it would go towards.

Because in addition to the healthcare providers such as physicians and APRNs, even social workers do the mini cognitive assessment that is one of the earliest tools of detection and cognitive impairment as well as several other professions as well. We also have a second part that we propose to organize the research component of Alzheimer's disease in the state.

There are 37 ADRCs in the nation that are NIA funded. And by organizing the existing dementia research that we have happening throughout the University, throughout the State. And by supporting it in an organized fashion, it'll enable us to apply for NIA funding to establish an ADRC here that can be federally funded. Thank you, Members.

I'll be here for any questions.

Appreciate you. Thank you. Eric Abe, good support. Kenneth Conklin in support. Michael Nomura, Lisa Moore, Marshall Moore, all in support. Anyone else here wishing to testify in this measure that I didn't call anyone on Zoom. If not Members, questions? Come back. So I know there's a.

We have another bill going, going through or hopefully will be heard regarding having physicians mandated. They bring this up to patients and of course, patients don't have to agree to any kind of assessment, but having the physicians.

And so with so many changes going on, and like you said, there are now new drugs on the market that allow us to slow the process down. And so it's more promising. But a lot of times our physicians may not be aware of some of these things going on.

That's right. I think the statistics show about 69% of physicians nationally, not just in the state, say that they had very little to no training on dementia when they were in medical school. Beyond that, about 40% see that they don't feel comfortable making the diagnosis of dementia. And like I said, that's national statistics.

But it kind of just goes to show what the current environment is. And I think it's largely because the disease has been around for a little over 100 years now. But it wasn't really until the last 20 years that there started being developments in treatments for symptoms and now treatments for the plaques that cause the disease.

Okay, thank you. So, University, there's no testimony from. Is there anyone here from the University that would be able to give us their thoughts, their thoughts on this?

Chair Kim. Vice Chair Kidani. Sam Shoemaker, Dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine. I do believe this is an important measure, and I would support it. Our medical students do get exposed to dementia patients, both in their psychiatric clerkship as well as their geriatric clerkship. But obviously we could always do more.

So would this program or training come under the medical school?

It would.

It would. And you would be of support of them?

I would.

Thank you.

Members, any other questions? If not. Okay, we're on to our final Bill, which is Senate Bill 1254. And this Bill is to prohibit active employees of the University of Hawaii and Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii from serving on the Board of Regents. We have Randy Pereira. Aloha. Okay.

Hello. Chair. Vice Chair. Members of the Committee, Nui Sebast here with HGEA. We'll stand on a written testimony in opposition.

Okay. And you are opposed? I think you might be the only person.

Correct. Yeah. So we're, we're specifically opposed and kind of, as we mentioned in our testimony, one of the board of Regent positions is specifically designated as a student. At times sometimes a student may also be employed with the University of Hawaii. So that's kind of our main reason for opposition to this measure.

Can you stay there? Because I do. I have Stacy Green in support, Stan Fitchman in opposition. Anyone else here wishing to justify this measure? Anyone on Zoom? No. Okay, so I understand is that just the student that HGEA is concerned about.

We also have concerns about and kind of question the reasoning of this Bill and why, what's, what's the need for to prohibit active employees from serving on the board?

Okay. Well, I think, and I guess one of the employee, one of the justifiers in support said it really well. The Bill seeks to improve the governance of our University by ensuring greater accountability, transparency, fairness in the Board of Regents process.

I want to know that the leadership overseeing my education is competent, fair and committed for the well-being of the students and that the decisions being made at the highest levels are in the best interest of all students, free from any personal or professional bias.

And I guess if your employer, and I know for students it can be intimidating at times if their employer have a position and they're asked to vote on it. Do you think that would be somewhat in conflict for them to be able to vote their conscience knowing that their job would be in jeopardy if they did?

Chair, thank you for your question. I think in situations and scenarios like that, we would encourage that Regent to exclude themselves from any situation that they would see as a conflict.

But how does that help decisions of the board if they're exclusive themselves, especially when they're there to represent students and students' interests. So it's, it's.

And, and I've seen this happen time and time again on the Board of Regents, or maybe not just on the Board of Regents, but where employees call me with concerns and they don't want to come forward for retaliation. They're afraid. And then when they do, they get retaliated against.

And so I can imagine that the stress on being a Regent, on measures brought forth by the Administration could in fact be intimidating. And you know, they would not probably want to go against that or speak up against that.

And I've looked at the voting patterns of student regents and as a whole, they don't like to vote against Administration. So very seldom do I see a no vote or a voter opposition on any measure that comes forward in all the years that I've been watching or been in the Senate as well as being Chair.

So I mean that's the reasons we bring up only because of that. And I can see with a student being a part-time or being somewhat employed by the University could have that concern.

Thank you, Senator.

Thank you. Members, any other, any questions?

How many Members on the board?

11, I believe. Right, 11 Members on the Board of Regents? Yeah. It used to be more and we narrowed it down a couple years ago to 11.

Could we consider adding more student names?

No, because the whole thing was to get fewer members so that they're within the,

Whatever you have now to appoint new student Members.

You have one student Regent who used to be non-voting and then we made them voting, voting member.

Yeah, I could see how that would be intimidating if there's only one student.

Well, what percentage of students that could be eligible to be on a board Regent would be employed? Do you have any idea about the University?

There are two types of employments within students. Most of our undergraduate students are student health, which is not truly an employment of the University. And then we have a lot of times we have graduate students who are also Regents. And if they are graduate students, the probability of them being employed by the University is pretty high.

What percentage of appointees are usually graduate students? I don't think I see any, right?

It depends. I think the last couple times they were graduate students, especially from the law school. The law school is a professional school. So usually they have other employment. But if they are undergraduates, we had undergraduates, they're not employed by the University or they are student health.

Yeah, I think most of them have been undergraduates. I think there was one graduate student who, who turned out or turned out as a Regent and then applied as a regular Regent.

That's correct and she served as a regular Regent. Correct. That was Regent if I remember correctly. So yeah. Michelle.

Yes, correct. Is there any board Member now that's serving other than the student Regent that is employed by the University?

I don't think so, no. They're retired from the University, but not sure. Yeah. Regent Henning used to be a faculty member.

Right. But he's retired. And certainly they wouldn't be affected by this, would just be current employees. Okay, thank you for that. Anybody else, any other questions? Okay, if not, I'm going to go straight into decision making. So going back to Senate Bill 557.

This is the Japson Huli Aoli to conduct a study of physician and dentist recruitment retention to serve on the island of Molokai. I am going to recommend that we do a SD1, amend this measurement to blank out appropriation amounts to defect the date that we put in the recommendations by the AG into this measure. I heard the testimony.

I understand the concerns. I think this measure and we'll put in the coming report that perhaps there needs to be more discussion with entity to do the study and hopefully when it goes to WAM we can have a little bit more, more discussion take place to come up with a reasonable way in which we address this.

So Members, any discussion, any comments? Hearing None. Madam Vice Chair. Chair? Chair votes aye.

The Senate Bill seven, I'm sorry. Senate Bill 557 with amendments. Chair votes aye. Vice Chair votes aye. [Roll Call] That is adopted.

Thank you. Members. Senate Bill 1107. This establishes a medical education liaison person within the University of John A. Bird School of Medicine.

And based on the testimony from the school saying that we don't need this measure and you know, not often we hear we don't need another position and in lieu of the author of the measure, I don't know if there's justification. So I'm going to recommend that we defer this measurement. Any discussion?

Which measure are we on?

We are on 1107. Okay. Senate Bill 1204. This is the establishing the cancer center research of Hawaii and the medical school to be integrated.

As I told the President that I would defer this measure again and give her and the rest of the administration, new administration, opportunity to look at this again and hopefully this, this time we will have some plan that will come forward that we can look at.

So I'm all for letting the University take the lead on this and hopefully it won't take another 10 years for us to come up with a plan despite all of the, all of the rhetoric that went on about the need because the cancer center tobacco funds and cigarette funds are dwindling.

And I'm not sure where we're going to be headed at this point in time unless something comes forward. So this is very important and so all of the cancer patients, everybody who concerned should be concerned that there has been no plan that has come forward.

And as it was noted that the expenses for the cancer center is $66 million. $66 million. I'm not sure how we sustain that going forward. Adding on new programs, but certainly the tobacco tax is not going to. Even if we raise it, it's not going to be able to sustain this.

So it is a serious situation that has to be addressed. Okay, so any objections to the deferral? Hearing none. We will go on to Senate Bill 1217 relating to positions at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, appropriates faculty positions in the field of cardiovascular. Why can't I say this word?

Cardiovascular biology, tropical medicine and quantitative health, biostatistics. Is this the one you said you needed so that we can expand?1 Okay. Recommendations, members, is to amend per WAM recommendation, we blank out the amounts and the effective date will defect it to July 31, 2050. Any discussion? Hearing none, Chair votes aye.

Senate Bill 1217 to pass with amendments. Chair votes aye. Vice Chair votes aye. [Roll Call] Measure's adopted, Madam Chair.

I just want to go back on Senate Bill 557. Did I give a date? The effective defective date of 2050, July 30, 2050? Okay, good. So we're saying it. I know. I. I thought. Okay, I didn't say that. SB 1252, relating to dementia.

The recommendation is to amend to SD1 technical, non-substantive amendments and the recommendation that we blank out the appropriation amounts and defect the date to July 31, 2050. Questions? Discussion? Hearing none. Chair votes aye.

Senate Bill 1252. Recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair votes aye. Vice Chair votes aye. [Roll Call] Measure is adopted Madam Chair.

Thank you. And for Senate Bill 1250, this is relating to the Board of Regents and prohibiting active employees of the University of Hawaii. I'm going to recommend that we. I'm not sure, the AG, did we have this? If we didn't put in the statewide concern that we should put that in.

And I want to put in the community report the concerns about the student Regent and.

Sorry, Madam Chair, which measure are you working?

1254. It goes on to JDC, and I can discuss with the Chair on that and that this measure could be further amended, but I'd like to go ahead and, go ahead and set that forth and raise that issue because that could be amended in JDC. Any, any discussion?

Okay, so Senate Bill 1254, passing with amendments.

Do we need a statewide? It has it already. Okay, so pass as is with dialogue. Into the.

Pass unamended. Senate Bill 1254, Chair votes aye. Vice Chair votes aye. [Roll Call] Measure is adopted, Madam Chair.

Thank you. And with that, I believe that's the end of our agenda for today.

Sa.