Senate Standing Committee on Education

Good afternoon. We're convening the joint committees on Transportation and Culture in the Arts, and Education, on our 3 p.m. agenda here in State Capitol Conference Room 224. We have resolutions on the agenda today.

We just ask folks to keep your testimony to no more than two minutes, to make sure we have time to get through everybody who showed up to the hearing this afternoon. That said, we're going to take testimony from both SDR117 and SR98 concurrently.

And we'll begin with those two resolutions, which urge the Department of Education to collaborate with the Department of Transportation and the County of Hawaii to conduct an inventory of bus stops on Hawaii Island utilized by children to travel to school, and develop strategies to improve safety at each location.

And we have testimony first from the Department of Education. Good afternoon. There's a lot of people in line behind you. So.

Sorry. Do we even have bus maps in the beginning?

That's the reason for a lot of this resolution.

Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony. My name is Megan Omura with the Department of Education and the Department stands on our written testimony provided.

Thank you very much. We have testimony from Shelby Pikachu Billionaire with the Ohana Unity Party and Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands online, not on Zoom Chair. Thank you. And we have further written testimony from one individual. That's everyone who had signed testifies there. Anyone wishing to testify who hasn't yet testified on these resos and seeing none.

Are there any questions real quick for doe. What are you folks doing currently about bus stops?

So a lot of the routes that were established are based off of student locations. Are the students actually riding the bus? You know, that's kind of up to. To the families to register them. So that's very important in identifying these students and where they are.

Another big, I think, challenge for us is also identifying where they're located at this time. You know, we are limited in terms of providing service to on county roads. A lot of the newer communities. When I say newer in the last five to 10 years, they are privately owned or managed by HOA.

So that makes accessing these areas a little bit challenging because the safety of these roads is a little difficult.

But how many bus stops do you folks have now?

It varies per route.

Yeah, but how many?

I can find out.

So you didn't find out before you got here because you know we're going to ask you for questions on this.

Sure. Oh, I can fill. I'll get you the number.

So you have no idea. 1, 10, 20, 15.

We have multiple stops on the 40 routes that we provide for the east and we provide around 72 routes for the west. Each route services multiple areas so it can range per route.

So are they complaints that you folks don't have enough?

I think it's more of a safety issue because it's not like, you know, on the island of Oahu where we have an actual bus stop with a seat and a sign. A lot of the stops aren't designed like that on the Pak Island.

So I guess I'm trying to find out. So is it the intent of the resolution not only to know where his bus stops are, are, but how to make it more safe? Is that. Yes. Is that what it is? But if there's no areas that are safe, where you can put alternative places.

To develop a strategy to figure out that and if there are possible ways to make it a safe location.

So if you come testify.

I know. Okay, thank you.

Okay. Since we're on Hawaii Island, I think maybe what's important for the Committee as well, including for DOE and the Education Committee, is that which ones are more affected because not all, as you say, bus stops are equal to the rest of the island. Like I know, like in Puna, probably that's kind of important.

And my former district was Waikoloa. But the problem there wasn't the, the bus stops or areas to drop off, but it was more because of the distance and the capacity. Yeah.

So I think maybe just getting historical background on the worst places, you know, rather than put everything in a basket, maybe that should come to the Committee of Education as well. You know, like for Hawaii island, if you have data or collect some information, where are pretty much the substantial areas for drop offs or whatever.

But I think this Senator Kanuha's measure is improving safety more than the issue of the availability of the buses that have been available. I think we had both.

Any further discussion, seeing none. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thanks for that.

Being both residents on the agenda, committees would like to move into decision making. I'm just going to add in schools. Okay.

So chairs having conferred for both SCR117 and SR98, we'd like to recommend passing with amendments, adding into the collaboration between DOE and the other stakeholders, collaboration with the Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee and then making technical amendments. There's no discussion. Vice Chair for the vote.

Thank you. The Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts Chair's recommendation Is to pass SCR117 and SR98 and with amendments Cheerlee Aye Vice Chair goes aye. Senator Elefante. Aye. Senator Canuha. Senator De Court Aye. Measures adopted. Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Same accommodation for Committee on EDU and no discussion. Chairs votes Aye.

Same recommendation. SCR117 SR98 Chair's recommendation for EDU is passed with amendments. [Roll Call]

Chair recommendations adopted for Ser. 117 Sr 98.

Thank you. We are adjourned.

We're convening the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the arts on our 3:01 p.m. agenda here in State Capital Conference Room 224. We have a number of resolutions up on our agenda this afternoon.

We'd ask everyone to make sure that your testimony submitted and we'll be limiting folks to no more than one minute to make sure we have time to get to all testifiers. First is and we'll be taking resolutions, both the Senate Concurrent Resolutions and the Senate resolutions concurrently for Testimony.

So up first is SCR 196 and SR 176 supporting and encouraging a broader relationship between the state and the King of Norway. And with testimony signed up for testimony on these is Michael Older. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. Chair and Members. Members of the Committee. I would like to express my support for this resolution just because I feel like we can learn a lot from the Kingdom of Norway. They're rated high in both quality of life and their dedication to climate change.

And they have an extensive track record with, as I said before, with quality of life and are ranked one of the highest in the world in terms of individual life satisfaction. That is all I have to say. Thank you for letting me testify.

Thank you very much. That's everyone who signed up to testify. Is there anyone else wishing to testify in this measure this afternoon? Seeing none. Are there any questions? Seeing none. Thank you. Let's move on to the next pair of resolutions. SCR 197 and Sr 177.

And I'll note we had posted a proposed Senate draft one for these and testifying first on 197. We have submitted testimony when everyone signed up to testify seeing no one else in the room to testify in these measures and no one to ask questions of if there are no other questions.

Let's move on to the next set of measures. SCR 195 and SR 175 supporting encouraging a broader relationship between the state and the Kingdom of Sweden. And testifying first. Excuse me. We have testimony submitted from the consulate of Sweden Honolulu and some individuals.

Is there anyone else wishing to testify in these measures and seeing as there are none, let's move on to the next set of measures. SCR181 and SR151, urging DOT to establish a working group on lowering the legal limit of blood alcohol from 0.08 to 0.05 and testifying on 181 and 151.

We have the Office of the Governor in support. Also signed up to testify is the Hawaii Public Health Institute online. Good afternoon.

Hi. Good afternoon, Chair Lee and Members of the Committee. My name is Rick Collins. I'm with the Hawaii Alcohol Policy alliance and we're a project of the Hawaii Public Health Institute.

We're here in support of this resolution and just want to thank you, Chair Lee, for introducing this resolution and for the Committee for hearing it and considering it. We do ask you to potentially do one amendment to this Bill and that would be.

And it's in our written testimony, but it's essentially to add an additional Member to the working group. That would be any other Member at the discretion of the Director of Transportation. Just so there's some leeway in terms of his, his or her ability to bring in experts into that working group as they see fit.

I'm here for questions. Thanks so much for allowing me to provide testimony.

Thank you very much. That's everyone who had signed up to testify online or in person. Is there anyone else wishing to testify in these measures? Seeing no one in the room. Sorry. Seeing no one in the room. Are there any questions? And seeing none. Thank you. That is the last set of measures on this 3:01pm agenda.

So why don't we go straight into decision making? At the top of the agenda, we're voting on both the Senate Concurrent Resolutions and the Senate resolutions together with one vote. Beginning with. At the top of the Agenda, SCR 196 and Sr 176.

Office of the Governor.

I'll take a quick, quick recess. Let folks come into the room and to get our paperwork in order. Recess.

All right. We're reconvening the Committee on Transportation, Culture and the arts on our 3:01pm agenda. We're in decision making. Thank you, everyone, for your patience.

Beginning with Senate Concurrent Resolution 196 and Senate Resolution 176, I would like to recommend passing with amendments, just adding a clause relating to prisons and criminal justice as a potential place of conversation and collaboration. There's no discussion on those. Vice Chair for the vote.

Chair's recommendation on SCR196 and SR176 to pass with amendments with five Members present. Any voting with reservations. Any no votes measure is adopted. Mr.

Chair thank you. Moving on to scr197 and sr177. Like to recommend moving us forward with amendments making or excuse me, adopting amendments based on the proposed draft as it was posted and making further amendments which include cleaning up and clarifying the recognition of the holidays in the title as well as the clauses.

And we'll also add a provision at the end inviting Canadian leaders and others as may be appropriate to meet with Hawaii leaders to collaborate on shared issues of mutual benefit and concern. Any discussion on this one? Seeing none Vice Chair for the vote.

Chair's recommendation on SCR197 and SR177 to pass with amendments. Any voting with reservations with five Members present. Any no votes Hearing none Vice Chair Measures adopted.

Thank you. Moving on to STR195 and SR175. Recommendation is to move forward as is if there's no discussion.

Vice Chair Chair's recommendation on SCR195 and SR175 is to pass unamended with five Members present. Any voting with reservations Any no votes Hearing none measures adopted Mr.

Chair thank you. Finally, last on our agenda is SCR181 and SR151. I'd like to move this forward with amendments. We'll clarify the intent to prioritize safety and saving lives on Hawaii's roads. We'll ask the group to examine Hawaii data on alcohol related fatalities, injuries and risk. Include the Office of the Public Defender.

Also include the other neighbor island prosecutors. We'll extend an invite to the National Transportation Safety Board, something that still exists. We'll also invite a representative of Hawai' I establishments involved with the sale of alcohol as well as a representative of Hawaii restaurants and a representative from an organization doing work on reducing alcohol related fatalities.

And then finally we'll adopt the recommendations from the testimony to add in any other Members as may be appropriate. And then finally we'd like to just recommend the group takes a look also at the data to look at the numbers of alcohol related fatalities injuries per year year in Hawaii.

The numbers of expected fatalities and injuries per year were the or should the legal limit be reduced to 0.05 based on real world results experienced in other places.

Also take a look at how alcohol and food revenues are affected in other places that have adopted or established a 0.05 threshold and how much revenue could potentially be expected to be gained or lost here in Hawaii as well as make recommendations for any mitigating steps to help bars, restaurants or others adapt that have been successful in other places that have changed their threshold or have a 0.05 threshold or any other options that might be recommended to address any issues as the group may see fit.

And finally, we'll ask for recommendations on how to engage with public awareness and how to phase in any potential recommendations for changes. And I'll just say, you know, I think it's been five or six years of various bills that have attempted to dive into these issues.

So getting everybody at the table and seeing if there's something else that we've missed or. Or to answer questions that have otherwise not been answerable in the course of the legislative process seems appropriate. And hopefully this can move forward and we can have sometime next year as the Legislature convenes, something that might be possible.

So any discussion on this?

Well, maybe we'll pass it this year. Never know. Okay.

Never know. Okay.

Chair's recommendation on SCR181 and SR151 is to pass with amendments with five Members present. Any voting with reservations. Any no votes measure is adopted. Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much. So that's the end of our 301pm agenda. I'll just note we have two other agendas with deferred measures to vote on. So take us out of our 301 and go straight into our 3:02pm agenda. These were measures previously heard in this Committee.

3:02pm we have three sets of measures, three sets of resolutions up, beginning with SCR 12 and Sr 8 recognizing international dark Sky Week. I'd like to recommend moving these two measures forward with amendments. And we'll add the convening of a task force on light pollution and dark skies.

Hopefully some recommendations for ensuring dark skies where and when appropriate and technical amendments. Is there any discussion on that? If not, Vice Chair for SCR 12 and Sr 8 with amendments.

Chair's recommendation on SCR 12 and Sr 8 is to pass with amendments. All those with five Members present. Any voting with reservations. Any no votes measures adopted, Mr.

Chair, thank you. Moving on to scr150 requesting the Department of Transportation to convene a working group to develop and recommend federal, state and county program subsidize. zero, I'm sorry, excuse me, I skipped a set of measures here.

We're on scr180 and sr150 requesting the Department of Transportation to submit an annual report to the Legislature summarizing specific safety related information for General aviation and commercial tour operators and Making those available online to recommend moving us forward with amendments to address the some of the comments that were raised and testimony when these were heard.

I'd like to recommend changing and clarifying the scope of the problem and intent to provide residents and visitors with safety and performance related information to enable informed decision making.

We'll change the title to requesting the Department of Transportation to share information on the safety and performance of commercial commercial tour operators to help residents and visitors make informed decisions. Fourthly, we'll request DOT and hta, the Hawaii Tourism Authority, to make information available in an easy to find and understand format online.

We'll ask the ask, excuse me, ask DOT to work with the National Transportation Safety Board to identify relevant safety performance and operations criteria and solicit voluntary responses from commercial tour operators with respect to those criteria.

Also ask them to work with other agencies to collect other relevant publicly available information and also establish a system of transparency and scoring to provide the public with information on which companies are taking which steps related to safety and other considerations as may be appropriate to provide for safety and best practices to enable residents and visitors to make informed decisions about which companies they would like to fly with.

And finally, we'll have to report annually to the Legislature, to hta, to the counties, and then make technical amendments. And just for the record here, the idea is we can't compel anything to happen, as I think some of the earlier testimony had said.

But in this space where Hawaii's experienced about 50 fatalities over the last couple decades, helicopter crashes and other things, we're trying to create a little bit of transparency here to give companies an opportunity to demonstrate that they're being safe or employing proper safety measures and best practices and making that information available to visitors who otherwise really have no idea and have a difficult time finding that kind of information so that they can choose whom to fly with accordingly.

So with that, any discussion? Seeing none.

Vice Chair Chair's recommendation on SCR150 is to pass with amendments with five Members present. Any voting with reservations, Any no votes measures adopted? Mr.

Chair, thank you. Finally on this agenda, Moving on to SCR 150 requesting the Department of Transportation to convene a working group to develop and recommend federal, state and county programs subsidizing the transport of waterborne cargo. Like to recommend moving us forward with amendments. Just making technical, non substantive amendments. If there's no discussion on that.

Vice Chair for the vote on scr150.

We just put sr150. That was sr150. This is Sr. Sorry about that. Okay. 180 chairs recommendation on scr150. Zero, okay. That was the. Okay. Yeah, we got to correct that then.

Okay.

Okay. Still with amendments.

Still with amendments. Okay.

Chair's recommendation on SCR 1150 is to pass with amendments. Any with five Members present. Any voting with reservations. Any no votes. Measure is adopted. Mr.

Chair, thank you very much. Okay, so that's the end of our 3:02pm agenda. We have one more 3:03pm agenda that we'll go into, which is a set of measures previously heard this morning. SCR222 and SR197 urging towing companies to have on site automated teller machines to ensure accessible payment options for vehicle owners.

So for this one, I'd like to recommend moving this forward with amendments. This was a joint with cpn, by the way, who voted that out this morning.

So we're going to make the same recommendations, which was to turn the measure into a task force to look at the issues that were raised by this discussion with Office of Consumer Protection as the convener and a report back to the Legislature. There's no discussion. Vice Chair for the vote with amendments.

Chair's recommendation on SCR 222 and Sr 197 is to pass with amendments with five Members present. Any voting with reservations. Any no votes. Measure is adopted. Mr.

Chair, thank you very much. Take a quick recess.

S.A.

thank you. Reconvening the Committee on Transportation and Culture in the arts. On our 303pm agenda. We were just voting on Senate Concurrent Resolution 222 and Senate Resolution 197 regarding towing. The. To clarify the recommendations were to pass with amendments establishing a task force with the Office of Consumer Protection to convene a task force with appropriate stakeholders. That is it.

22. Yeah, that. That's. That's all we got. We just voted on the measure. So I think we're. I think we're good.

Yeah, I think we're close.

That's good enough for me.

Yeah. Okay. And with that, let me just first of all say I don't know that we're gonna have any other. zero, we got GM hearings.

Well, in any event, we want to thank the IT folks for putting up with us this whole time for managing the zoom and the testifiers and everything else, and certainly our staff and our staff at our drafting agencies for doing the bulk of the actual work that we otherwise, I think too often overlook.

So we will have, I think, one or two more hearings, it sounds like, but until then, just wanted to really just send some mahalo and appreciation to everybody who was involved in the process not sitting at the table here right now. So with that, we are adjourned. Thank you.