House Standing Committee on Finance

Morning. We're convening the Committee on Finance for 3—4—agendas today. Our first agenda—first bill up is House Bill 640, HD 2. Vice Chair.

First, we have the Office of the Ombudsman, with comments.

Hello, Chair, Vice Chair, Members. Robin Matsunaga, State Ombudsman. I'll stand on my written testimony and I'm available for any questions you may have.

Thank you. Next, we have the Department of Human Services on Zoom, with comments.

Morning, Chair, Committee Members. My name is Kerry Moea'i from the Director's Office. On behalf of Doctor—Director Ryan Yamane—we stand on our testimony. Thank you.

Members, we also received one—Hawaii Coalition for Child Protective Reform in opposition and one individual with comments who indicate they would not be here. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Any questions, Members? Okay, thank you. We'll move on to the next Bill, House Bill 619, HD 1. Vice Chair.

We have Danson Honda in support.

Aloha, Members of the Finance Committee. My name is Danson Honda, and I am testifying in strong support of HB 619. I am passionate about this Bill because I've experienced firsthand the power of financial literacy. Growing up in a single income family of four, my family could only afford a small one-bedroom apartment.

So, I slept on a fold up mattress on the living room floor for the first 20 years of my life. As a child, I believed that getting good grades and going to college was the key to success. I worked hard and was a straight A student. But towards the end of high school, I started questioning this path.

I wondered, if this was really the key to success, why do so many still struggle in life, despite doing everything right? Disillusioned from our education system, my grades slipped, and I didn't even walk out of high school graduation. According to the system, I was a failure. After getting into college, I soon found myself in financial trouble.

It's quite troubling that students right out of high school can easily take out loans and open credit cards, despite having never learned about finances. I realized that my schooling had left me ill equipped for the real-life challenges. And because of the mistakes I made, I began teaching myself about budgeting, saving, and investing—lessons I learned not from school or even business classes in college.

I had to learn it on my own on YouTube. This knowledge transformed my approach to life. And I realized that working smart to somewhere mattered more than working hard to nowhere. The most valuable lesson that financial literacy taught me was resilience.

Instead of dwelling on setbacks and feeling sorry for myself, I learned to spot opportunities where most people only saw obstacles. It also changed the way I saw work itself. Society often defines a good job as one with a salary and requires a degree, while viewing anything outside of that as lesser.

But financial literacy taught me that success isn't just about job titles. It's about how effectively you can manage your resources and opportunities. It showed me that any job, no matter the label, can be a steppingstone toward financial freedom, if you know how to leverage it.

I graduated and began job hunting, but the Pandemic derailed those plans. I applied everywhere I could, but hiring freezes meant that no one was calling back. So, I became a food delivery driver and applied my newly learned financial skills to make the most of what I learned.

Two—just two years later, at 24 years old, I achieved my wildest dream and purchased a single-family home in Pearl City. Despite starting the Pandemic jobless, broke, and in debt. While we worked hard to achieve this, I'm so grateful to have had a chance to learn from my mistakes.

Many people don't have that luxury, and we should not be forcing people to learn about finances through their mistakes when we can equip them with this knowledge ahead of time. The Finance Committee is no stranger to the financial struggles people in Hawaii face.

Every session, you hear countless bills designed to improve lives, each one very well intended, but they also are accompanied by a very steep price tag. And you see firsthand how financial hardship drives more and more people to rely on government assistance. But we can't just keep spending more.

We must also help people break free from this cycle of dependency in the first place. Instead of continuously expanding safety nets, we also need to be giving the people the tools to climb out of them. This binder here is filled with all the financial literacy legislation that's been introduced over the years.

Some of these proposals date back to 2003. I was just a couple years old. To me, these aren't just sheets of paper. They represent the voices of so many of us over time, advocating for a more resilient Hawaii.

I sincerely hope that by the time my kids are in school and for all of our future generations that they will have the opportunity to receive the education that I wish I had growing up. So, let's not delay any longer, and please vote in support of this vote. Let's make this happen. Mahalo.

Thank you. We also received testimony with comments from the Hawaii State Board of Education, three organizations in support, and two other individuals also in support. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Members, questions? Only one person to question. You did a good job. Very good. Okay, thank you. We'll move on to the next Bill, House Bill 1169, HD 1. Vice Chair.

We have the University of Hawaii system in support.

Good morning, Mr. Chair. Madam Vice Chair, Members, Calbert Young with the University of Hawaii System. University has submitted testimony in support of this measure.

We can stand on the testimony, but I would like to point out we consider this measure simply a housekeeping measure because the statute currently already has two separate provisions for conference center funds at the University. So this Bill would simply consolidate them into one single fund. Thank you.

That's all the testimony we've received on this measure. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on zoom?

Okay, questions, Members, thank you. We'll move on to House Bill 548 HD1.

First up, University of Hawaii system in support.

Thank you. Madam Vice Chair. University stands on its testimony. We are supportive of this measure. However, I'd like to point out two things. First of all, the St. Francis property is currently owned by a private. A private landowner. I do not believe and have not heard that the property is actually for sale or available for sale.

We are supportive of this measure as a preemptive measure that should it ever become available for sale, the University would be interest. Interested in acquiring it. Thank you.

Thank you. We also have seven individuals in support who did not indicate that they would be joining us. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on zoom?

Okay, Members, questions? Okay, you have Representative Kusch.

Thank you. Do you. Do you know what the sale Price was in 2024 when it was sold to Avalon?

I believe it was in the neighborhood of 24 million. Thank you.

Yeah, while you're up there. So this is not new. This is something that we have talked about in the past and I know you've done an appraisal in the past.

The original appraisal. Yes. In 2018. Ish. Around there, the University, as part of anticipation of submitting an offer, when the property was listed for sale with the previous owners, the University did contract for a private appraisal. That appraisal was for six. Came out to be 16,1 6 million.

Okay. And then, you know, because of the uniqueness of this property and. Right. The access road in the back is very limited. And then the only other access would be through University property. You know, when we first talked about it, I thought it had a huge potential to be part of the University system or Manoa.

And I think I was thinking that in large Part because I didn't think anybody else could make it work. Yeah. So if somebody did come in to make it work, I would think that because of the limited access to the back road, they would have to come and talk to you about access to the campus.

What is the University's position?

Well, the access to this property is not through the University of Hawaii.

Right. There is.

There's an emergency fire lane that is present that connects it, but it's only a fire lane. It is not a roadway. It couldn't serve as a roadway because it flows through another lot, a lot on the University property. So it's not a roadway. There is an official and formal access to this property.

It is in Manoa Valley on Pomoa Road. That is the recorded and official entryway. And any development at their. The University has previously examined and evaluated any development would have to primarily utilize their formal entry access, not through the University because of the location of that fire lane.

That is not a service roadway that could adequately service that property. Yeah.

If you had that property, what, what could you use it for?

Well, when the University was originally interested in it with the former landowner, the University desired to acquire it to construct faculty housing as a, as a project there. And for that we actually would have closed the. The Pomoa Road entrance or utilize that as an emergency egress from the property.

But that's because it would make sense since it's faculty housing. You know, you have faculty on campus already, essentially. It wouldn't be as much vehicular traffic. You know, the day to day that was back in 2018. Ish. So it's been a while.

The University would probably revisit what would make sense depending on how the University was to acquire it. If it were for sale. To be clear, it is not offered for sale. Yeah, but I do think something like faculty housing is still an opportunity, but that would have to be explored.

The economics have dramatically changed for housing development today versus 2018. Are there limits to what you can do on that property? There are limits. I believe the current landowner is going through, you know, working through the entitlement process with the city. The zoning, the subdivision of parcel. This is actually only one large parcel.

It's residential zoned in Manoa. You know, it's bordered on two sides by the University, one side by Manoa Stream and then the access roadway.

So, you know, all of those things, depending on the type of development that you would build there or that the current landowner plans to build there, there are a number of things that would have to be addressed entitlement wise.

Okay. So it probably has, like, height limitations and part of. Is it historic there?

There are some historic structures on there. I'm not sure if they would be considered historical meaning in the sense that they're on some register. But there are. You know, this property has been utilized, you know, for talking decades. Right. So there's a church, there's a Catholic denomination church there. It's not the University. It's a private.

I mean, it's a Catholic church and residences for priests there. And there are some buildings that have heights that are beyond what is zoned for residential. So there could be some grandfathering opportunities there.

All right, thank you. Further questions, Members. Okay, thank you. We'll move on to the next Bill. House Bill 542 HD1. Vice Chairman.

First up, we have the University of Hawaii system on zoom. In support, Deborah Halbert or Faram. Sorry, in person. Sorry, in person.

Thank you. Aloha, everyone. Chair. Vice Chair, Deborah Halbert, Vice President for Academic Strategy for the University of Hawaii System. We stand on our written testimony in support. I'm happy to answer questions. We do believe that extending the Hawaii promise to the four years offers important opportunities for our most vulnerable students. And so we hope that we can get this through. Thank you so much.

Thank you. We also have the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly UPA in support. We also received testimony and support from the University of Hawaii Student Caucus. That's all the people I have on the list. Is anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, questions, Members. Okay, moving on to House Bill 1345 HD1.

First up, we have the Department of Education in support.

Good morning, Chair. Vice Chair. Members of the Committee, Sean Bacon, Assistant Superintendent from the Department of Education. We stand on our written testimony in. Support and available for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. And we have the University of Hawaii system with comments.

Good morning, Chair. Vice Chair Deborah Halbert. Again, we stand on our written testimony with comments. We would like to note that if we are waiving tuition for the semester in which students are doing their teaching apprenticeships or whatnot, there would be a cost involved.

And we've tried to do some estimates on that, but that's our 1.0 that we. Otherwise, we certainly agree with anything that can help us solve the teacher shortage in the state. Thanks.

Thank you. We also received testimony and support from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Hawaii State Teachers Association. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom questions, Members?

House Bill 11. We'll move on House Bill 11. 70 HD1.

First up, a University of Hawaii system in support.

Good morning again, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, we stand on our written testimony and support. And we do believe that this is an opportunity to bring students who may have traveled outside the state for assorted reasons home and provide them with the best opportunity for education here. So thank you.

Thank you. Next up, we have the Department of Education and support.

Aloha. Chair Yamashita, Vice Chair Takenouchi and Members of the Committee. Teri Ushijima, Assistant Superintendent for the Department of Education, testifying in support of this measure. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. We also received testimony support from two other organizations. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on zoom?

Okay. Questions? Representative. Thank you. Go ahead.

Thank you. Chair for University. You know, in support of this, but I also understand that the University have a. Has a program for seniors that if they wanted to enroll in classes, they also have a tuition waiver.

And I just want to understand how these two complement each other because I know of so many classmates who started school and then life happened and so they had to put down their education to start working and caring for kids. And now they're at 55 or older and wanting to go back.

And I just want to understand how this actually complements some of that that's already available at the University.

You're right. There are a lot of different programs for different students. This particular Bill for the Hawaii resident tuition fee is for students or former students from Hawaii high schools who may have left the state and now are residents in other states for any number of reasons and want to return.

If they had graduated from a Hawaii high school, then they would be understood as a resident. Now, in this particular version of the Bill, much of the debate has been over how many years can you have left the state.

And there's been, over the course of us working on this particular piece with the Legislature, some differences of opinion between the House and the Senate on what that should be. We've used four years because we thought that mapped to a more traditional student. You're right.

If there were students who were outside the state for longer, it would not be covered in this particular piece of legislation. However, as you mentioned, we do have programs. Manoa used to have one called the Come Back to Manoa.

There's the adult learning programs through Leeward Community College, which is trying to get people to come back, and that is certainly one of our key efforts. Many of those students are already in the state. So you're pointing to an interesting policy issue that isn't directly addressed by this piece of legislation.

Yeah. And I want to understand that a little bit better, because my understanding is if you are 55 or older, you would have that. But the class is only available if the seats are not at capacity. So if there's 25 and the class is full, they can't enroll in that.

And I'm just trying to figure out a way how we can somehow tweak. Yes, we want our kids to come back. Yes, we want them. But there's so many others who made incredible sacrifices, and they actually stayed. They stayed. They stayed to take care of their kids.

They stayed to take care of their parents, and now they want an opportunity to get their bachelor's. But because the policy requires that if the class is not full, they would be ineligible. And I'm just trying to find a way to kind of complement this with our baby boomers, I think, who want to return to.

I'm not exactly sure which program you're talking about, because Leeward was running the Returning Adults program. It may be that one with the five week consecutive courses. And you're right, that was a limited pilot. But maybe we can talk after this meeting about ways in which we can help facilitate returning adults, because it is on our radar.

We do know there's many, many students or former students in the state who have not completed their credentials, and we would like to help them do so.

Yeah. And they're missing just one or. Yeah. 12 credits. You know, something really. That would really kind of. All right, thank you. Thank you. Chair, if I may.

Oh, yes, this is Associate Vice President Farrah Gomes. She's Associate Affairs.

Yeah, we're in questions and we're done with testifying.

Well, she's. She can provide additional detail on this particular question.

Okay, thank you.

Aloha, Vice Chair, thank you for the opportunity to provide additional information to that question. We appreciate the question. I believe the program that is being mentioned is called the Senior Visitors Program. We do have additional information that we'd be happy to share.

I can see that that program was established through legislative action, and we can share that information with you as well. At this time, not all 10 campuses are offering the program, but for the campuses that do, I'd be happy to put together information and provide that.

Great. Thanks. Dr. Gong, good to see you. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. In general, I am not a big fan of Zoom in General. And this is one of the reasons where people jump in. In the middle. Okay, moving on. Representative Kush.

Thank you, Chair. oh, uh, don't go away yet. Sorry, sorry. This applies to undergrad or is it both undergrad and graduate studies?

It could be either. It applies to the student, not the program. Got you.

And you said that the Senate version has a four year cap on it now.

That was what was introduced in past years. I think both versions have a four year cap at this point. In past years there have been different permutations. Let's just say that from no cap to two years, four years, et cetera. Okay.

And do you have a specific carve out for like people who deploy military or you know.

So in Executive policy, we do have different ways of treating military students in a variety of different capacities in our EP for the purposes of tuition. And again, we have Associate Vice President Gomes online who's a student affairs, so she can help fill in the details. Details.

Okay. Well, that's all I needed to know. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Okay, thank you. Okay.

Vice Chair, quick question for you. Yes.

Have you run initial understanding that this is probably going to be more of an incentive program, especially after Covid, like you mentioned, but have you run any initial numbers on, you know, current students who would have been impacted and you know, who are within this gap year who would have qualified because you have the graduation information. Right.

These are always really challenging counterfactuals. We'll be, I mean in terms of all the different proposals for what ifs, what if we do this kind of thing? Farrah, I'm not sure if you're current.

Have you run the numbers on current students? Current students left and then did not qualify for residency but did graduate from a local high school who would have benefited from this program? Are there any current numbers?

So we do have current numbers. And we did just run this for. If we looked backwards for four years from today. Number is actually 66 students. 48 of those students would have entered back to a community college and 18 of those to a four year institution.

So the numbers are relatively small in terms of what we're talking about.

Thank you. Understood. They're small because this is going to hopefully be the carrot to get all our kids home. Thank you.

Thank you for the questions, Members. Okay, thank you. Moving on to the next Bill House Bill 442 HD1.

First up, we have the University of Hawaii system.

Good morning, Chair Yamashita, Vice Chair Takei, Members of the Committee, my name is Clementina Sery 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, in particular the University of Hawaii School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene at Manoa, uh West Oahu and uh Hilo. So I'll give further details for uh Manoa. And Rebecca Rumine will provide testimony for uh Wasiwahu and Jeanette Ayers Kawakami for uh Hilo.

So for uh Manoa, we're asking for funding for the phase three of the uh Manoa and uh Wesawahu collaboration for four faculty and one online rn, two BS Faculty. Thank you.

Good morning. Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. I'm Dr. Rebecca Romine. I'm an associate Professor and the current faculty Director of our uh West Oahu's Pre Nursing Pathway Program. We're working in collaboration with MNOA and I'm here in support of our testimony. Um, we're currently asking for in the funding for funding for two faculty.

We're currently asking for in the funding for funding for two faculty. An educationalist, an education specialist and an academic advisor. And I'm here for any questions you guys may have.

Okay. Thank you. We also have Aloha Care on Zoom in support.

Maybe not. Okay, that's. We also have testimony and support from six other organizations and one individual. Yeah, all in support. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anyone on Zoom?

Okay, questions Members?

I have a question Chair.

Representative Lamosao.

This is for Dean Clementine Nursing and then also for UH West Oahu. You mentioned that there was going to be a Hilo representative. Jeanette.

What happened to Jeanette? She's supposed to do it via Zoom.

Okay, no worries. I just wanted to double check because you both mentioned how many faculty this would involve. So let's go with Manoa for the 444,000...between West Oahu and uh, what is the current enrollment at West Oahu.

For the Pre Nursing Pathway Program? Currently we have two groups of students at different levels within the pathway program. And total it's a little bit under 100 students combined.

And for Manoa?

We have. So the first cohort was admitted in spring 2024. Then the second cohort was admitted recently spring 2025. So we have at this time who qualified and eligible for our program is 39 current enrollment.

And then for the faculty, you said four. That's I assuming in-person and then one online. Why do you need an online?

Oh, so the one for the four is for the, uh, Manoa and uh, West Oahu Collaboration Phase Three. It's a three year program. So. So the funding for the four faculty is for the year 34 instructors for that. The online RNTBS request, we do have a Hawaii Statewide Nursing Consortium.

So upon completion of their associate degrees, those who is in collaboration with us from Maui College, Kauai and Kapiolani College seamlessly transitioned to Manoa to get their BS in nursing because they only have an associate degree. And the preferred degree by our clinical organizations at this point is baccalaureate because of the complexity of care.

And so for that one faculty we're asking for, for the online, it's going to be for students in Kauai, because we actually go to Kauai or hire someone in Kauai to administer the program or course so that they don't have to come to Oahu.

And then if you can, also for West Oahu, the positions you asked for were two faculty, one educational advisor, and there was one more.

There was an academic advisor. So like we call them a student success advisor. And their role is to guide the student through application, GPA requirements, changing classes and whatnot, all of the stuff associated with student affairs.

Do all the colleges in West Oahu have a person like this?

So we have a different kind of hierarchy. We don't have colleges, we just have divisions.

And so all the divisions have similar. Because I feel like some of this work can be done by in collaboration with other divisions. Yeah.

So we have a student success advisor for each program or degree program. And currently there are a few that double up and cover more than one degree program. And so this ask is to help separate.

Could you do away with no funding for that position?

Well, we're asking for it because it would really help the success of the program.

A growing need from the high schools that want to go to West Oahu for this particular program. And then if you have a number already of participants.

Yeah, that's a great question. So we do tend to serve high schools that are west side or central Oahu. And over the past several years, the first group of students, we had about 11 initial direct entry from high school. And then as the semester went on, it increased to 20.

And so we took some students in our spring semester. And then once we were able to adequately kind of advertise our program, we had double, triple the amount of applicants that applied to our pre nursing pathway program, Especially a lot from Waianae, Nanakuli, Waipahu. And they're strong students right now.

So the way our cycle is we accept students into our fall entry program. And they are applying now, most of our demographic students tend not to apply until like February, March, April. And we have a March 1 priority deadline and then a July 1 deadline. Right now we have about 40 students in queue.

The way that we have the application process that they have to come to an information meeting, they meet with us, then we go through their application to make sure that they understand the process of what pre-nursing is. And there are a set number of courses they have to take in a specific order.

And then we admit them if they meet the UH West Oahu admission criteria. Right now we're at about 40. Last year at this time, we're about 20. And so we are definitely increasing and I usually the increased number of student applicants comes between April, May and June. So we're anticipating well over 100 applicants this year.

I'd love to hear more about that. That and your collaboration with the. Ah, thank you. And then. Too bad Janette isn't here. Yes. So I wanted to. She's online. Oh, okay. I'm sorry, I'm here. Yeah. So we can talk about the amount that will or the faculty that will be funded for the months that you are requesting.

Yes. Aloha. I'm Jeanette Ayers-Kawakami, Director here at the School of Nursing UH Hilo. We're requesting for five additional faculty positions.

This will to assist in increasing our enrollment in each of our cohorts, both of our junior and seniors from a current number of 30 students up to 50 students will increase. It will increase our size by 67%.

So those are all professors as well?

Yes, some may be instructors or professors.

Thank you for the question, Members. Okay, thank you. Okay, I'm going to make a brief comment and this is, you know, I, on decorum. Right. So normally the chair needs to recognize whoever is going to speak.

If you want one of your colleagues to speak on a certain issue, that you would have to ask for that person to speak. If the Member wants somebody else to speak, that's fine. The proper decorum is that they're supposed to ask the chair that they can recognize that person.

The reason why I'm making a big deal out of this is because I expected, you know, educators and people to understand decorum. And I'm more concerned about the fourth agenda today, that we're going to have to hold some level of decorum.

And so I just don't want to say that I allowed something to happen in an earlier hearing and then I didn't allow it to happen in the fourth hearing. So understand that going forward, you need to be recognized before we allow you to speak. Okay, thank you. We're going to be moving on to the next one.

House Bill 718 HD1. Vice Chair.

First up, we have University of Hawaii system in support.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Members. I'm Dr. Lee Buenconsejo-Lum from the John A. Burns School of Medicine. I'm the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. We stand on our testimony and I would like to point out that we really hope that you're able to support us.

Especially in light of the concerning potential budget cuts in our indirect costs from the National Institutes of Health. So we're very concerned about our ability to higher faculty and actually continue the research that helps make Hawaii healthier. Thank you.

Thank you. We have the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly in support. We also received testimony and support from the Hawaii Primary Care Association. That's all the testimony, written testimony we've received. Anybody in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on zoom?

Okay, questions? Members? Okay, thank you. We'll move on to the next Bill. House Bill 1320 HD1.

First, we have the University of Hawaii system in support.

Good morning, Chair. Vice Chair. Debora Halbert, Vice President, Academic Strategy. We stand on our written testimony. I will note that you can see links to some of our existing postgraduate outcomes in the testimony that we submitted. Thank you.

Thank you. That's all the written testimony we've received. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, questions Members? Okay, moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 1171 HD1.

University of Hawaii System in support.

Good morning again, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. I would also stand on our written testimony here. I would also acknowledge, and I apologize deeply for not doing this before, that Associate Vice President Farrah-Marie Gomes is on the on Zoom for technical questions related to the relief funding Bill.

Okay. Oh, thank you. We also received one piece of testimony from the University of Hawaii Student Caucus in support. That's all the written testimony received. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, thank you. Questions, Members, Moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 546, HD1.

University of Hawaii System in support.

Good morning Chair, Vice Chair. Vassilis Syrmos, the Vice President for Research and Innovation at UH System. We're standing on our testimony in strong support. Thank you.

Thank you. University of Hawaii Professional Assembly in support. Thank you. And we received testimony support from one individual. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, thank you. Questions, Members? Thank you. Moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 989, HD1.

First up, we have the Department of Accounting and General Services in support.

Morning Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Meyer Cummins. I work for the Land Survey Division under DAGS. I'm here to testify on behalf of Comptroller Regan in strong support of this Bill. And we stand on our written testimony and I'm here to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's all the testimony we've received on this measure. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, questions, Members? Thank you. Moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 477 HD1.

First, we have the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations in support.

Hello. Chairman Yamashita, Vice Chair Takenouchi, Members of the Committee. David Rodriguez with the Department of Labor Industrial Relations. We do apologize, Director Butay had to step out for another meeting.

But yes, we support this measure and the modernization of the UI system while also improving services, and would respectfully request amendments to clarify the intentions of the Bill. Again, thank you for hearing this Bill. And Anne Perreira-Eustaquio, the Administrator of UI, is available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

Thank you. Also received one other testimony in support from one organization. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom? Questions, Members?

Moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 202, HD1.

First, we have DLIR in support.

Hello again, Chair, Vice Chair David Rodriguez, the Department of Labor Industrial Relations. We stand on our testimony of support in strong support as it safeguards the health and long term stability of the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund. We're available to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. We also have Tax foundation of Hawaii on Zoom. Okay, that's not present. That's all the testimony we received and, oh yeah, Tax Foundation with comments. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, questions, Members. Okay, moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 430, HD1.

First up of DLIR in support.

Chair, Vice Chair, Members. David Rodriguez from the Department of Labor Industrial Relations. We stand in our testimony in support so long it does not affect the governor's biennium budget. On Department notes, there exists some uncertainty pertaining to federal funding currently available for similar purposes.

The DLR supports the HD1 amendments which the Department believes will allow us to operate the program in a much appropriate fashion. And we are available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

Thank you. Next we have the University of Hawaii system in support.

Good morning again Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. We stand on our written testimony in support. I will note as we do in our testimony, that internships are one of the positively correlated post-success student success initiatives that lead to better postgraduate outcomes.

Thank you. Next we have the State Council on Developmental Disabilities in support.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair. My name is Samaya Gorham. I am an intern at the Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities. We are here to stand in our strong support of this testimony, this Bill. Yeah, I'm an intern. This is a great program.

I'm with the Hele Imua program and it's really broadened my perspective on a lot of different things and show me what I can do, you know, with my life and with my future. So I think these kind of internship programs are really important to personal development and for like also your career development for the future. So thank you.

Thank you. We have Department of Education in support.

Hello Chair Yamashita, Vice Chair Takenouchi, Members of the Committee. Keith Hayashi, Superintendent, testifying on behalf of the Department of Education. We stand on our written testimony in strong support of this measure. Thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you. We also have the Hawaii Food Industry Association in support on Zoom. Not present. Members, we also received about a dozen other pieces of testimony from various organizations, all in support. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Questions, Members? Moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 864 HD1.

First, we have the Department of Education in support.

Hello, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Keith Hayashi, Superintendent, testifying on behalf of the Department of Education. We stand in support of this measure. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you. We also have testimony support from one from the Maui Chamber of Commerce and one individual. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay. Thank you. Questions, Members? Superintendent. So if we added to the measure some reporting requirements, that's fine, right?

Yes, Chair. What type of reporting requirements?

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, further questions. Okay. Moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 480, HD1.

First up, we have Department of Labor Industrial Relations in support.

Hello Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, David Rodriguez with the Department of Labor Industrial Relations. The DLIR supports this measure and stands on its testimony which encourages the timely and accurate assessments of injured workers physical abilities. I have JoAnn Vidinhar available on Zoom if you have any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. We also received testimony support from DHRD and three other organizations. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, thank you. Questions, Members? Okay, thank you. Moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 1152 HD1.

First up, we have Department of Taxation in support.

Good morning. Kristen Sakamoto, Deputy Director of Taxation. The Department supports this measure which would allow us to exempt three specific positions from civil service. These are very specialized positions that require specific knowledge and expertise that go beyond the current civil service regime.

Just very briefly, the first one is a data privacy officer which comes about from an IRS requirement that we hire a senior official in charge of data privacy requirements. The second one attacks business analysts which would allow us to take on large projects such as Direct File or other tax law changes that come about every year.

This position is very specialized with tax knowledge and knowledge between the business side as well as the IT side of our operations and finally the supervising software developer. We currently have an exemption for software developers which are high level software developers that go beyond the current civil service regime.

So we just need a supervisor to that is also exempt to supervise this position. I'm available if you have any questions. Thank you very much.

Thank you. We also have Tax foundation of Hawaii with comments on Zoom. No, not present. That's all the testimony we've received on this measure. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, question by Representative Kusch.

Thank you Chair. Deputy Director of Taxation please. Thank you. I won't pretend to remember those three descriptions. But the second one, there's been a lot of testimony that we've heard about the inability to collect get and tat taxes off of short term vacation rentals throughout the state. And will that second position sound like it was a business? It help the data troll for that?

No. So this position would be more aligned with if major system changes need to take place as a result of like taking on direct file from the IRS or if the Legislature imposes any new category of tax or bigger exemptions, they would be helping with making the systems to our changes in order to comply with the new laws or the new project.

Okay, so none of these high level positions especially in the data sets are kind of focused on that.

Right. I think with regard to compliance with get or tat, we do have existing positions in our special enforcement section and they take on compliance issues such as that.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Ok, thank you for the question. Okay, thank you. Moving on to 159 HD1.

First up we have UPW in support.

Aloha Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Kamakana Kaimuloa, United Public Workers. You have our written testimony and strong support of this Bill. Due to the staffing shortages across the state, we're finding that employers across all jurisdictions are leaning heavily on these contracts.

And so what this Bill does is actually provides clarifying language that it should be the cap would apply to in aggregate rather than on a per contract basis. We feel this is necessary as, as we move forward because of the reliance on these contracts. Happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

Thank you. We also have HGA in support.

Good morning Chair, Vice Chair, Members. Nui Sabas with HGEA. We'll stand on a written testimony in strong support of this measure. Mahalo.

Thank you. We also received testimony support from Hawaii State AFL-CIO. That's all the written testimony received. Is there anyone in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, Members, questions? Representative Lamosao.

This is for UPW. Can you explain some of the instances this is kind of being, I guess if the, if the counties are taking advantage of this and in what ways?

Sure. Thanks for the question Rep. Actually in our testimony we point specifically to Maui County, in particular DPR, Department of Parks and Recreation. So what they're actually doing is they're carving up the contracts.

Rather than one master contract for all of the Department, they're carving it up by district so that in the aggregate it's actually around $1.8 million rather than if they carve it up, it would fall below the threshold. That's the biggest what we would call abuse of the interpretation.

Further questions. Moving on to the next Bill, House Bill 164 HD1.

First up, we have the Department of Accounting and General Services with comments.

Morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Ladea Nash. I'm the Accounting Administrator for the Accounting Division at the Department of Accounting and General Services. I'm here to testify on behalf of Keith Regan, Comptroller. And we stand on our written testimony and are here for any questions you might have. Thank you.

Next up, we have UPW in support.

Chair, Vice Chair, Members again, Kamakana Kaimuloa, United Public Workers. You have a written testimony and strong support of this Bill. We feel that this is more in step with the rising costs of living in Hawaii. Our biggest issue is actually in current statute, the $1000 swipe.

So if the debt is less than $1,000, it can take it to one pay period. We know that there may be policies that run contrary to that, but in practice, that's what we're seeing from some of our. With some of our Members happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you. We have HGEA in support.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Members, Nui Sabas here with HGEA. We'll stand on our testimony in strong support of this measure. I do want to emphasize that this Bill is really intended for employees on. The lower end of the salary schedule. Specifically for folks that make less than $3,000 per pay period, or effectively $72,000 a year. Thank you. Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. We also received comments from the Hawaii State Public Library System. That's all the written testimony we received. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom? Questions?

Members, thank you. We'll move on to the next Bill. House Bill 1424 HD1.

First off, we have Department of Budget and Finance in opposition.

Good morning, Chair, Vice Chair, Members. Luis Oliveira, Director of Finance for the State of Hawaii. You have our testimony. We'll stand on our position of opposition on this particular Bill. We do appreciate the intent on what this Bill is trying to accomplish, but what we would like to express is that we are currently.

The State of Hawaii is going through a process of modernizing our existing budget process and our budget system. And we believe that transparency and accountability with regards to the expenditure of legislatively appropriated funds is appropriate.

But we would like to go through the process of actually implementing that system forward. Given our current processes and the tools that we have right now, something like this and the inability for a Department to have some degree of flexibility between payroll and OCA could cost, could result in some significant difficulties for the Department.

And I'll be happy to answer any questions if you may have Chair. Thank you.

Thank you. We have the Department of Accounting and General Services with comments.

Morning Chair. Co-Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Miyoke Ng from the Department of Accounting General Services testifying on behalf of Comptroller Keith Regan. And DAGS stands on our written testimony with comments. Thank you.

Thank you. We have the Department of Hawaiian Homelands with comments. Thank you. We have the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in opposition. We also received comments from the Department of Human Services, Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor Industrial Relations, opposition from Department of Defense and support from the Grassroots Institute of Hawaii.

Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, questions members. Okay, Representative Lamosao, I mean Lee Loy. Sorry.

Thank you. Chair. Let's see. Sorry, yes, it's Mr. Oliveira you mentioned. Thank you for being here, by the way.

I wouldn't miss it. Wouldn't miss it.

Absolutely understand the intent of the Bill. But it sounds like you guys are kind of moving forward with a modernization and basically accounting system that would actually kind of capture some of these internal transfers within the Department so that they can be kind of trigger ready. And I understand that. What is the timeline on that modernization?

So we are currently actually we have issued the RFP. The bids for that RFP are expected within the next week. We would like to have a vendor on board by the end of March, early April. And our expectation is that we would start using it. And so just for clarification, representatives.

So there are two efforts that are going on. This is the budget management system, but there's also very large enterprise financial system that's going effort that's going on and that RFP is forthcoming very, very soon too as well.

So, you know, I think where we are in the process is that we would like to start on our budget execution and as well as start our budget prep processes probably starting in the next biennium.

And so, you know, we'll probably try to start implementing some of the smaller aspects of the new system, the new budget management system earlier if we can, in conjunction and working with the awarded vendor and solution providers.

So the real secret and what we're trying to get to right here or this secret sauce really is a combination of both the budget management system and the enterprise financial system, because what we want to do Is we want to be able to basically run variance reports around what you guys appropriate and what departments are actually expending.

And what we would like to do, as with any like, you know, good organization, is we would like to actually close the books on a monthly basis. Right now the state closes the books once a year.

And so by being able to provide with that information, I mean, we would departmentally and as an Administration, you know, we would have so much more nimbleness when it comes to actually being able to manage the state finances when that, when both of those systems are in place.

Speaking to that piece of nimbleness, you know, we're getting a lot of signals from the Federal Government. Does that program, that modernization help you guys track that information much quicker and to the point you're closing books every year?

And ideally, I think we're all trying to get to the same secret sauce, which is where are we, how much money is there and how much money do we need or are we still on track to meet the goals set out by the Legislature?

Yes, I mean, it would definitely, you know, more transparency, more real time information in regards to how departments are, especially when it comes to the receipt of federal funds. You know, the state operates on a lot of these funds on a reimbursement basis.

So we many times have to front it with state funds in anticipation of reimbursement by the feds on it. So cash flow becomes an issue. You know, budget is one thing, Cash flow is another thing too as well that we have to manage.

So again, yes, it would allow us to be a lot more nimble, a lot more transparent, and it would actually drive accountability all the way down to the expendituring departmental level, the various departments.

And then this system, ideally, it's kind of like a dashboard. Is that going to be something that's going to be available to legislators or the public?

That is the intention, I think. You know, dashboards will be, I think, a byproduct. You know, right now our process is a, is a system of spreadsheets and word documents and it's not really a system.

This will allow for again, you know, data to start collecting longitudinal data to start happening, trending, to be able to start pulling all of that information together. So yeah, so I mean, I'm really excited about pushing forward on this effort.

Great, thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for the questions. Okay Director, you know, part of what this Bill is trying to accomplish is that, you know, they, some of these transactions and tracking of them are currently being done by subdivisions of the State. Okay. And I think what we need to...

...what would help this Committee understand this is the complexity of the difference between what you have to deal with and, say, a subdivision?

So, I mean, for us, because the Budget and Finance looks at everything on such a macro level, right? And when we ask departments to put together at the beginning of the year operational expenditure plans, which essentially breaks out by quarter and by category. So 10 and 20 is the difference.

10 is payroll, 20 is OCE, other current expenses. We asked departments to put together an operational expenditure plan for the year by quarter. And, you know, we're constantly having to basically look at it at this macro level, but we don't have the visibility down into the Department level in terms of tracking.

Okay, well, where are you on the payroll at any given point in time of the year? Does it look like you're going to be short or are you going to have a significant amount of savings, like, say, for example, vacancy savings?

And what we do once those operational expenditure plans are set up, that gets set up in the accounting system. And the accounting system is essentially the check and balance, right? The operational expenditure plans provide you with the amount that the accounting system will allow a Department to expend up until. And so you're looking at it by quarter.

Sometimes you have to move money from one quarter. Like say, for example, oh, a big expense happened in the first quarter, you might have to move money from the second into the first. Or sometimes a big expense happened in OCE. Oh, you might have to move some money into that.

So providing some degree of flexibility and the challenges and the complexities.

I think the departments, at the end of the day, what they're trying to do is just operate and what budget and finance is trying to do is basically kind of keep track of all of those expenditures and to provide you and with some degree of comfort that the budget will execute based upon what you guys appropriate.

So it's, we need a system chair. And essentially the complexities that we have with the, you know, very archaic systems is challenging.

Okay, so right now, you know, I understand. I mean, the, you know, FEMA system and what the EGS has in it is communicating between the systems is part of the problem and things like that.

But going forward, right. My assumption is the enterprise system and your budgeting system will work in concert. Yes, Right. Okay. Is part of that concert with the Legislature.

So, you know, I know there's separation of powers and, you know, and stuff like that, but yes, our intention really, you know, what I would love to see is one system that the Executive branch would have and the Executive branch would have, with the appropriate firewalls, of course, you know, but to provide some degree of transparency and accountability between both, especially for the Legislature.

Because as the appropriators, as the funders of us, I mean, we would want to be able to provide you with information on a real time basis. Right. Basically to show you how we're executing and we can be evaluated based upon our performance. So I would love to have a, you know, we're doing it first.

Hopefully, you know, you guys really like what we're doing and then you guys decide to, like, jump on and tag onto our system.

Yeah, yeah, I think, I think that's kind of a key too, because there's a lot of, you know, as far as extra work that goes on at this level also that can be streamlined. Right.

Even from the budget development process. Right. I mean, we have, if we're able to use the system to prepare that, I mean, we could basically give you the file.

Right. Because if we were to do that, then, right, we could actually develop our own budget without seeing your budget, if you so choose.

Yes, Chair.

Yeah, yes. But anyway, okay, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Okay, further questions, Members? Okay, we're going to, you know what we're going to do?

We're going to break and come back in about an hour and then we'll have decision making at that time and then move into the next agenda. Okay, thank you. We're in recess.

Okay, we're going to reconvene the Committee on Finance for our first agenda. First up is House Bill 640 HD2 recommendation is that we pass it out with amendments, adding a Defective date of 7/1/3000 and Tech. Any discussion? Question for the vote.

Voting on HB 640HD2 recommendations to pass with amendments. Chair and Vice Chair vote. Aye. Representative Grandinetti, Representative Holt.

Representative Hussey.

Aye.

Aye.

Representative Keohoku Liloi. Representative Kisagawa. Aye. Representative Kush. Aye. Representative Lama Sau. Representative Lee is excused. Representative Miyake. Aye. Representative Morikawa is excused. Representative Templo. Aye. Representative Alcos is excused. Representative Reyes-Oda. Aye. And Representative Ward is excused. Chair. Recommendations adopted.

Okay, thank you. Moving on to House Bill 619 HD1 as is discussion. Vice Chair.

Voting on HB 619 recommendation is to pass as is. Noting the excused absences of Representatives Lee, Morikawa, Elkos and Ward, who will remain marked as excused for the rest of this agenda unless otherwise noted. Are there any Members voting with reservations? Any Members voting? No. Recommendations adopted.

Okay, thank you. Moving on to House Bill 1169. HD1 as is discussion.

Going on. HB 1169 HD1 recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations? Any NOS recommendations adopted.

Okay, thank you. Moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 548 HD1 as is discussion. Representative Reyes Oda.

Okay, thank you. I'm not fond of state agencies coming to the Legislature for money to buy properties that are not willingly for sale. HB 548 is preemptive and testimony submitted in the previous Committee in opposition by Avalon Development provides reasonable doubt that they will be open to negotiations concerning the possibility of, uh, acquiring the property.

Um, I'll be voting with reservation so that the conversation for this or potentially the sale or agreement by Avalon can continue. Okay, thank you very much. Any further discussion?

Okay, Vice Chair going on.

HB 548 HD1 recommendations to pass unamended. Noting the reservations for Representative Reyes oda. Any other reservations? Any no's? Recommendations adopted.

Okay, thank you. House Bill 542. HD1 as is discussion. Vice Chair.

HB 542 HD1 recommendations to pass unamended. Any reservations? Any noes? Recommendations adopted.

Okay, thank you. Moving on to House Bill 1345 HD1 as is discussion. Vice Chair.

HB 1345 HD1 recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations? Any no's? Recommendations adopted.

Okay, thank you. Moving on to House Bill 1170 HD1 as is discussion, Vice Chair.

HB 1170, HD1 recommendation to pass, unamended. Any reservations, any no's? Recommendations adopted. Okay.

Going on HB. 442, HD1 recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations? Any no's? Recommendations adopted.

House Bill 442, House District One as is discussion, Vice Chair.

Okay, thank you. Moving on to House Bill 718, HD1 as is discussion, Vice Chair.

Going on HB 718, HD1 recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations, any no's? Recommendations adopted.

Okay, moving on to House Bill 1320, HD1 as is discussion, Vice Chair.

HB 1320, HD1 recommendation is to pass, unamended. Any reservations, Any no's? Recommendations adopted.

HD2HB 1171, HD1 Recommendations to pass with amendments. Any reservations? Any noes? Recommendations adopted.

Okay, thank you. Moving on to House Bill 1171, HD1. Okay. Recommendation is that we're going to be blanking out the new cap and technical amendments. Any Discussion? Vice Chair,

Okay, thank you. Moving on to House Bill 546, HD1.

As is discussion, Vice Chair, HB 546, HD1 recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations, Any noes? Recommendations adopted.

It will be on House Bill 989. HD1 as is discussion, Vice Chair.

HB 989, HD1 recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations, any no's? Recommendations adopted.

Moving on to House Bill 477, HD1 as is discussion.

On HB 477 HD1 recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations, any no's? Recommendations adopted.

Okay. Moving on to House Bill 202, HD1 as is discussion, Vice Chair.

Going on HB 202, HD1 recommendation is to pass unamended. Any reservations, any no's recommendations adopted.

Thank you. Moving on to House Bill 430, HD1. Okay, we're going to be moving this out. We're going to be amending and blanking out the amounts and technical amendments. HD2. Any discussion?

Vice Chair going on HB 430, HD1 recommendations to pass with amendments. Any reservations, any no's? recommendations adopted.

Thank you very much. Moving on to the next bill. House Bill 846, HD1 moving in and out with amendments. Okay, this is what going to be moving out with prior concurrence, adding the reporting requirements that I talked to the Superintendent about and it will be on page three, line six, and it should read as follows.

The Department shall submit an annual report to the Legislature no later than 20 days prior to the convening of each legislative session that shall include one. The number of students participating in the school approved work work based learning program sponsored by the Department or the University of Hawaii.

Two, the number of workers compensation claims filed pursuant to this section and number three, the number of students who continue to participate in the school approved work based learning program sponsored by the Department or the University of Hawaii after graduating from high school. Any discussion and technical amendments? Any discussion? Okay, Vice Chair for the vote. I'm sorry.

Oh, sorry. Okay, just to be clear, we're voting on House Bill 864 HD1 with amendments. Okay, Vice Chair for the vote.

Going on HB 864 HD1, recommendations to pass, with amendments. Any reservations? Any no's recommendations adopted?

Okay, thank you. Moving on to House Bill 480 HD1 as is discussion. Vice Chair.

HB 480 HD1, recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations? Any no's? Recommendations adopted.

Okay, Moving on to 1152 HD1 as is discussion. Vice Chair going on.

HB 1152 HD1, recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations? Any no's? recommendations adopted?

Okay, moving on to House Bill 159. House D1 as is discussion, Vice Chair?

Voting on HB 159 HD1, recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations? Any no's? Recommendations adopted.

Okay, moving on to House Bill 164 HD1 as is discussion, Vice Chair following on.

HB 164 HD1, recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations? Any no's? Adopted.

And last bill on the agenda, House- Sorry. Thank you. The last Bill, 1424 HD1 as is discussion.

HB 1424 HD1, recommendations to pass, unamended. Any reservations? Any no's? recommendations adopted.

Okay, thank you very much. We are adjourned. Okay, we're gonna do our second agenda first up. Okay, we're going to recess. Hold on.

Here we're going to reconvene the second agenda. First up is House Bill 1167, HD1. Vice Chair.

First up, we have the Department of Transportation in support on Zoom.

Hello, Chair, Vice Chair, Members. Ed sniffin with hawaii.stand in support.

Thank you. We also have. We also received testimony and support from Hawaii Transportation Association. That's all the written testimony we received. Anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody? On Zoom?

Okay, Members, any questions? Okay, thank you very much. Moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 1164, HD1.

First up, Department of Transportation in support on Zoom.

Chair, Vice Chair Members. Ed Sniffin in support. Thanks.

That's all the written testimony we received. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody? On Zoom?

Okay, thank you very much. And we're moving on. Any questions, Members? Okay, thank you. We're going to move on to the next Bill. Going too fast. House Bill 1156, HD1.

Vice Chairman, Department of Transportation in support on Zoom.

Thank you. Department stands in support.

Thank you. Also testimony and support from Akahi Energy and Hawaii Harbors users group, both in support. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody? On Zoom?

Okay, questions, Members? Okay, thank you. Moving on to the next Bill. House Bill 667 HD one question.

Department of Transportation in support on Zoom.

Thank you. The Department stands in support.

And then we also received testimony and support from four individuals. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody? On Zoom?

Any questions, Members? Moving on to the next bill. House Bill 177 HD1.

First up, we have the Department of the Attorney General with comments on Zoom. In person. Sorry.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair and Members of the Committee. My name is Rachel Jordan, Deputy Attorney General with the Department of the Attorney General. We already provided our written comments and are available for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Also Department of Transportation in opposition on Zoom.

Yes, the Department stands in opposition. Thank you.

Thank you. We also have testimony from Ty Tuli to fight in support.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of Committee. I wish Department of Transportation would have supported it like the last four measures, but it's okay. But I'm rise here as a private citizen urging with support. State IDs have become a basic necessity in life. You need it everywhere you go to enter here. For me to testify.

I need a state ID. And so this, this is measured. This bill is aimed for those who are poor and we forget about those left in the gaps.

And so this bill, I've seen the testimonies that's been supported that have been submitted to support that it benefits a lot of people and, you know, it's a minor drop in the bucket as far as finances, but it'll make an immediate impact in the lives of the people we serve in every community.

So I urge passage of this measure. Thank you.

Thank you. We also received testimony in opposition from the County of Honolulu Department of Customer Services, testimony and support from Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health center, and testimony and support from eight individuals. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, thank you very much. Members, questions? Okay Representative Kusch.

Thank you Chair. For Department of Transportation, Mr. Sniffin, do you have any data on, like, how many people or the origins of people who get ID cards?

What I'm trying to suss out is, you know, obviously there's a big need for the houseless population, and I know this is a recurring issue for them and they probably go maybe multiple times during an episode.

But do you have any data to support who is just getting an ID card because they're not driving and who is getting these? Just for basic. Is there any programs out there to help fund these for them?

We can. Representative Kush, thanks for the question. We can get data on the breakdowns of those who use the state ID programs and the reasons that we see for them. I don't have it with me, but I can send it to the Committee if you'd like.

For us, the reason for the opposition is it's 1.2 million that we're going to have to make up someplace. That's the only thing.

Yeah, no, I understand that. And that's what I'm wondering is if it's 10% to help this body of people who are in need, then maybe there's another route other than changing the whole law to accommodate a minority situation, which I'm loathe to do. But anyway, that would be great.

If that information, if that's something you can get quickly, that would be great. Thank you.

Absolutely. We can get that over by Monday morning at the latest. Okay, thank you, sir.

Thank you very much. Any further questions, Members? Okay, thank you. We're going to move on to the next Bill. House Bill 228 HD1.

Department of Transportation in support on Zoom.

Zero, sorry. Department Standards and Support. Thank you.

Thank you. We also received testimony with comments from the County of Honolulu. Yeah, Department of Customer Services and the Hawaii Transportation Association. One individual in opposition and three individuals in support. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, Members, questions? Thank you. We're going to move on to House Bill 1161 HT2.

Upper step. Department of Transportation in support. On zoom.

Thank you. The Department stands in support.

Thank you. We have the Hawaii State Energy Office in support.

Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. The Hawaii State Energy Office stands on its testimony and support and they're available for questions. Thank you.

Thank you. We have the alliance for Automotive Innovation with comments.

Our Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Tiffany Ajima on behalf of the alliance for Automotive Innovation. We submitted comments in support and asked for hybrids to be removed from the Bill. Thank you.

Thank you. We have Avis Budget Group with comments.

Afternoon Chair, Vice Chair, Committee Members, Lori Lum on behalf of Avis Budget Group. We are requesting an amendment to allow rental cars to pay a flat fee rather than the miles traveled formula, which would be very difficult for us to process. Thank you for your consideration of this amendment.

Thank you. Ulupono initiative in support. Okay. Stand in support. Thank you. Enterprise Mobility with comments. Thank you. Also testimony and support from Council Member Bullasan from Kauai County, Council Member Kimball from Hawaii county, the Honolulu County Department of Customer Services, Mayor Bisson's Office, County of Maui, the office of the Mayor County of Kauai, ompo.

And then with comments, we also have Hawaii Electric Vehicle Association, Cervical Pacific. zero, I'm sorry. Tax foundation of Hawaii on zoom with comments if they're available. Sorry about that.

No problem. Good afternoon, Members of the Committee. This is Dave Mcmillan on behalf of Tom Yamachika for the Tax Foundation of Hawaii. We've submitted some comments on the measure. Just noting that there have been some inconsistencies regarding policies regarding electric vehicles and the rate that they're being charged for use. Thank you.

Thank you. Also Council Member Sugimura from Maui County in support. One other individual in support and one with comments. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, Members, questions? No question. Okay. Representative. I mean, Liloy. Sorry.

I'm hoping Director Sniffin is still online. Director Sniffin, real quick. I know it's a mileage road usage charge that actually goes back to the Department, but I just want to be clear that it's not only for resurfacing, but any other safety measures such as striping reflectors, vertical delineators.

Would this Fund be available to use those types of other traffic measures under this Bill?

Hello, Rep. Ed Sniffin with HOY Dot. Yes, this. This is a replacement of the gas tax. So anything that comes into this Fund will go directly into the highway Fund and it's be used for all of those purposes that's correct.

Thank you. Thank you. Chair.

Okay. Thank you for the question. Okay, thank you. We're going to move on to the next Bill. House Bill 1166 HD1.

Department of Transportation in support on Zoom.

Thank you. The Department stands in support.

Thank you. We also received testimony from the Judiciary with comments and AMPO in support. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay, Members, questions. Thank you. We're going to move on to House Bill 697 HD2.

Department of Transportation in support on Zoom.

Thank you. Department stands in support.

Thank you. We also received testimony and support from AMPO and three individuals in opposition. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom questions?

Members, thank you. Moving on to the next bill. You have a question? Vice Chair.

All right, Director, a couple quick clarifying questions about the program. So are the employees who are going to be approved to do this work, are they just doing that review section, or are they also somehow issuing the tickets? I was, when I was reading the statute, I was a little unclear.

So the request is for, for our group of either people working for the DOT or for law enforcement to be able to review and be. And they're going to be supervised by law enforcement. So the whole intent is to make sure we can expand the program without overtaxing police at this time.

For the 10 intersections that we have, we have two police officers doing the thousand to 2000 citations per month. When we start opening up speed just based on the numbers we see, it could be 10 times that.

Until such time that the public adjusts to reduce the citations, we don't have 20 officers that we could put out there or put under this program to review the tickets and the citations before they go out.

So we'd like to build up a force of individuals that are employed by the DOT or by DL that can be managed to put out the citations.

Okay. So they're just doing the review part, though. And then the supervising officer would be actually doing the citation part of the program. Okay. And then I think you touched on this second part a little bit. So these are all going to be new employees.

They're not identified existing employees who, who would be starting to do this work. We'd be having to hire up in either of DOT or D for this initiative.

That's correct.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Further questions, Members, moving on to House Bill 1231 HD1.

First up, Department of Transportation in support on zoom.

Thank you, Chair. Vice Chair. The Department of Supports the intent.

We definitely want to make sure we focus on in areas where there's, there's high crash incidents, people running red lights, and in those types of situations, when we start prioritizing the system, we would need to just prioritize based on a zone, but based on the data that's necessary to consider the program successful.

And second, considering removal of funding from the program that should be going into a red light and speed enforcement program will make it difficult to expand the program into other areas. Thank you very much.

Thank you. We have Ulupono Initiative in support.

Thank you. Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Mariah Yoshizu on behalf of Ulupono Initiative, we are supportive of this measure. In particular the part relating to safe Routes to school, the special Fund.

There is an analysis of Hawaii EMS calls found that pedestrian and bicycling injuries to children are most likely to occur when they're traveling to and from school.

So we think that building out correct, proper infrastructure so that they can do that safely will help reduce those risks and have parents not have to worry when they send their kids to school.

And we also believe that it will provide for healthier students who's able to do those more physical activities moving to and from school, reduced absences and tardies and less congestion on the roads as well. So thank you so much for consideration of this measure.

Thank you. We have the Hawaii Bicycling League in support.

Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Eduardo Hernandez on behalf of the Hawaii Bicycling League, we stand on in support of our written testimony. In support on our written testimony, particularly want to highlight the Safe Routes to School component.

HBL has worked really closely since the Safe Routes to School Committee was enacted and they've been doing a fantastic job and we really want to identify funding streams that will allow them to continue their work. So thank you very much for this opportunity to testify.

Thank you.

We also received testimony with comments from the judiciary as well as testimony in support from, from ampo, Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic justice and four individuals. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on zoom?

Okay. Questions, Members?

Question for Director Sniffin. Hello.

I was wondering if you think that it's possible to strike a balance between, you know, the percentage, percentage of fines collected and the need to expand the system with the need to expand the Safe Routes to School system, find dedicated funding as you know, another pedestrian safety and vehicular accident like prevention measure or if.

And if not, where. What's your preferred sort of source of funding for that program? Because I see both of them as really important. And I know you do too.

Absolutely. The difficulty that I'm having right now is, and this is coming from the Members, there's a lot of interest in expanding this red light and safety camera program to a lot of different districts.

And we're working through issues with police and courts and prosecutors to ensure that we can fund some of their positions to ensure that we don't bog up the entire system and that that's going to be costing a lot of money.

Very difficult for me to see that we can expand this without the dedicated source of funding that we have there. Now. That being said, the Legislature in the past two years had dedicated 10 million in our highway Fund directly to safe Router School for those. For those past two years, that funding was significant.

That came out of the DOT to go into those safer out of school programs. And I'll just say this, I think it's really important those types of projects move forward. I cannot see an agency that moves forward faster than we do.

So it's very difficult for me to support moving money out of the.who's delivering on these safety issues for the communities rather than finding other sources that are not. They're not moving at this time, if that makes sense.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for the questions. Okay, Director, Many years ago when I first took a look at St. Frost's School, it was primarily federally funded. Right. And then over the years we General funded some and then now we're kind of using the Special Fund as well. So. Right. It's evolving and it's moving and things like that.

But at the same time, I think in light of what's happening at the federal level, it's unclear will the federal money ever return. Is there any talk at that level?

Yeah. For state Rossi School, there's two sources of funding. There's one federal source and there's one state source. The federal source has always been a source of funding that communities had used for pilots to start a pilot. There's so many strings attached to that program. It's very difficult for community groups to use that federal funding source.

They don't Fund long term initiatives as well. It's just a startup and they expect the state or the county or locality to take over the program from there.

On the state side, there's another safe route to school program that was under the DOT previously that used to take citations in or funding from citations to put into the Fund. It's a smaller Fund. I think the last time I checked several years ago, the Fund had amount about 700,000.

The difficulty with that Fund is when we put it out, the DOT was not able to use that funding. It had to be used by counties or by community groups. But the difficulty was when the counties partnered with community groups, that wasn't their priority. Their priority was the larger projects.

Those funds, when they were committed to different projects, were very difficult to move. There are a lot of cancellations of projects and the like. The, the Legislature had taken it over, I want to say, four or five years ago. I don't remember exactly when. And we haven't seen the, the funding coming out of that, that fund since.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. We'll, we'll move on to the next measure. House Bill 235 HD1.

First up, Department of Transportation in support on zoom.

Thank you. The Department stands supporting the, supporting the intent. Thank you.

Thank you. We also received comments from the judiciary and support from ompo. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on zoom?

Okay. Thank you. Questions, Members? Okay, thank you. Moving on to 12. House Bill 1260 HD1.

Department of Transportation in support on Zoom.

Thank you. The department stands in support.

Thank you. We have the Department of Health in support. Thank you. Hawaii Bicycling League in support.

Yes. Aloha, chair, vice chair. The Hawaii Bicycling League stands in support of this measure, particularly the- the economic impact of it. There have been 50 years of this type of project happening across the world in more than 400 jurisdictions. And the- in my testimony, you'll find a link to an economic impact study in New York City.

It's clear, given obligations under the Navajine settlement, that we need to do more to get people to choose to walk and ride safely. One of the things that we've seen over 50 years at HBL is that people are afraid to ride their bike because they don't feel safe.

Having a few hours out of the year that are dedicated for open streets would allow people to experience what it's like. And, and this would be an important benefit for socioeconomic and health reasons. Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify. Here for any questions.

Thank you. We have Jonathan Lott in support. Please come forward.

Good afternoon. I'm generally in support, but I do not support restricting it to the smaller size counties it should be statewide. Thank you.

Thank you.

We also have testimony from three other organizations in support, as well as three individuals in support and one other person with comments. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on zoom?

Okay. Thank you. Question, members.

I guess this would be for you, Director Sniffin. Do you- Do you know. I'm familiar with this bill and I think it's great. Do you know why Oahu was cut out?

I don't. Sorry.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much for the questions. Thank you. We'll move on to the next bill. House Bill 958, HD2.

Department of Transportation in support. On Zoom.

Thank you. The department stands in support.

Thank you. We have the Honolulu Police Department in support, on Zoom. Not present. We have Ulupono Initiative in support. Thank you. And we have the Hawaii Bicycling League in support.

Thank you. We stand in support.

Thank you.

With comments as noted.

With comments. Okay. Okay. We also received testimony in support from the Honolulu County Department of Transportation Services, two other organizations and four individuals. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Oh, sorry. Okay. Stand this support. Thank you. Anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay. Thank you. Questions, members? Okay. Thank you very much. We'll move on to the next bill. House Bill 1055, HD1.

First up, we have the Public Utilities Commission in support. Thank you. We also received testimony in support from Hawaiian Electric. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to testify? Anybody on Zoom?

Okay. Questions? Moving on to the next bill. House Bill 1052, HD1.

First up, we have DCCA Division of Consumer Advocacy in support.

Thank you.

Thank you. We also have the Public Utilities Commission in support. Thank- Thank you. We have the National Federation of the Blind of Hawaii in support.

Yeah. Good afternoon. Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, my name is James Gashell speaking for the National Federation of the Blind of Hawaii. You know, it just strikes me that looking at the title of this Bill, it looks like kind of a bureaucratic or governmental Bill.

There are real people that are behind this Bill and benefit from the program that's operated under this Bill. That program is described in our written testimony and it came about as a result of Act 247 passed in 2023.

This Bill proposes to extend that program on out into the future with implementing the Public Utilities Commission's universal service program. Mahalo for their efforts in regard to this and we support this Bill. Thank you very much.

Thank you. We also received testimony and support from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities and the Department of Human Services. Is there anybody else in the room wishing to testify?

Anybody on Zoom questions, Members? Okay, thank you. Moving on to the next Bill, House Bill 108 HD2.

First up we have Maui Brewing Company on Zoom in support, Garrett Marrero.

Aloha Chair Yamashita, vice chair, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. You know, going to stand on my testimony. There's a lot of great facts in there about the consumer sentiment. Over 82% of drinkers do support updating the laws for direct to consumer.