House Standing Committee on Higher Education

Alright. Good afternoon, everyone. Now convening the House Higher Education Committee for purposes of a public hearing on six Senate bills that have crossed over. Let's go ahead and get right into it. First bill, Senate bill 3229 s t one relating to the University of Hawaii. This bill authorizes the use of tuition fee special fund to conduct donor valuations, requires related reports to the legislature, including donor valuations conducting using moneys from the fund. I'll first be at the University of Hawaii. Okay. Testifying. Comments.

Is the foundation available? Okay. Provide a testimony in support. That's all all that we have registered to testify today. Anyone else in the room wishing to do so?

Senate bill 3229. Members, any questions? Seeing none, moving on to the next bill, Senate bill 2802 s d one related to the University of Hawaii. This bill appropriates funds to establish a bachelor's degree program programs in education and agricultural science at the community college, funds two full time equivalent positions, and appropriates money for supplies and equipment. It's effective data set of 12050. Up first, we have Okay. Thank you. Again with comments. Deb. Share your help.

I'll share your comment. K. Thank you very much. Deb, in support. Do we have a Johnny May Perry in the room or on Zoom? They've indicated desire to testify, accept testimony in support. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to do so? Senate bill 2802 s d one. If that number is pleased, though, we also have testimony in support from the Hawaii Farm Bureau, the Hawaii Entattlemen's Council, and one individual. Members, any questions?

Senate bill 2802 s d one. Yes, Ralph LaChica.

RUH, please.

A project of what it would look like if there was one leadership overseeing both West Oahu and B WERD, to see if it could really capitalize. We could capitalize on the synergies that can exist between a community college and a four year college, where the alignment between programs and degrees and certifications make a lot more sense. And so the essential essence behind the testimony with comments, I believe, you were talking if I'm wrong. It is to, instead of singling out, I think it's West Oahu. We would like to, have the language expanded to allow us to be able to look at both.

We were at West Oahu.

Does it say you wish West Oahu in here?

I don't think so.

It's just establishment of a bachelor of science degree program in education at Leeward Community College.

Oh, I'm sorry. At Leeward then. Yeah. Instead of saying it only at Leeward, we would like the flexibility to be able to see if it might make more sense to be at West Oahu as a distinct physical campus right now because where we where we are headed is to is to possibly look at, again, a more combined integrated set of programs between the two physical locations. And so by singling out I'm sorry.

Leeward, there's just the comments were to give the the university flexibility to possibly even explore West Oahu.

And then follow-up just quick follow-up question, chair. The so is it a priority of the university at this time to expand the current program or to keep it as is? This is just for the education program.

Yes, please.

Yeah.

As far as I know, we're still recruiting students to enter into that program. I mean, we have a huge teacher shortage crisis, so I want to be able to make sure we have, you know, the Hi. Debbie Halbert. Sorry. I'm late.

Vice president for academic strategies downstairs, and now I'm gonna miss everybody's testimony. But, to your question, so we have, over the past year, been working across the system to develop a coherent education pathway from our two year campuses to our four year campuses. So not simply Leeward CC to West Oahu, but all of our CCs to both Manoa and then Leeward, as well as University of Waihilo. So we are developing a coherent four year two year to four year higher education academic plan for the teacher shortage. And and so the testimony is specific to trying to let our plans come to fruition and build out that pathway.

Now, to your point, there are obviously a lot of other pieces to the puzzle besides simply our pathways And recruitment of of students into teacher education is one of the goals of the larger project as well as then the retention on the other side, which is, one of the pieces that we are in communication with the Hawaii DOE about. And so we have capacity both at UI Trust Oahu right now as well as our other facilities in terms of the numbers of students we could bring into the program. So it's not that we need another four year bachelor's degree at this time. I would love the day when that is true, but we do need to focus on the recruitment of students into the existing pathways. And what we've been focusing on is making sure that if they start at the two year campus and they go to a four year campus, they don't lose credits in the process and we've gotten rid of all the hidden prerequisites and all of the rest.

was the work we did this past or this academic year.

So that

So thank you for sharing and your position, and whether or

not it's necessary in the streamline, I guess, integration that you're hoping to be able to have with that. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Members, any other questions? I'll set up bill 2802 as the one. If not, Debbie, I just have a couple to you. This bill proposes to set up a four year degree program in education and life sciences at Leeward. What is the university's general sense about offering bachelor's degrees at the community college when they typically offer associates only?

Well, as you know, Maui College already has several, in part because it is, on a different island and it has a very specific set of workforce needs for that island. As a general rule, we are trying not to do duplicate programs across the two years that would be available at the four years, especially especially in areas where we already have degrees. We are also internally thinking about what it would look like to stand up applied degrees that would be maybe 90 credits. West Of Wahoo is also very excited about that. That can offer dish additional different kinds of applied pathways for students going forward.

So that's in the earliest conversation. But as a general rule, we would prefer to keep the four year degrees at

the point. That makes perfect sense. And to confirm, you do have a four year degree available at Education? Yes. We do. K. Thank you. Is there any other questions? Thanks, Bill. Thank you.

Thank you. The next bill is set up bill 2969. SD one relating to the of Maui wildfire exposure study in the Maui health registry. Members, you'll recall we heard a similar bill, not quite a companion. This is not an admin bill, but it's very similar in content to Senate or, I'm sorry, House bill 2340 that we did here a few weeks ago. So up first, let's see. And we have is doctor Juarez in the room? Juarez? On Zoom.

Hi. It's over Zoom.

Okay. Please go ahead.

For one finishing on June 30 of this year. The one that you are seeing right now is pretty much identical just expanding on this for an upcoming fiscal year. So and, yeah, if there is any questions, I'll start by my my my testimony. So

Thanks. Okay. Thank you very much. The rest are gonna be via Zoom as well. Let's start with Pedro Haro. Not present. Not present. Testifying in support. Veronica Mendoza, Roots reborn.

Hello, chair, vice chair, and members of the committee. My name is Veronica Mendoza. I'm the founding executive director of Roots reborn and a founding coalition member of El Pueblo Mexico in Maui, the people in action Maui. We send on our written testimony support of s p 2969. We work directly with immigrant and migrant families still recovering from the 2023 wildfires and navigating overlapping crises of housing employment, immigration enforcement, and now recovery from the Kona storm we experienced this weekend.

And we see every day how the these stresses show up in people's bodies and minds. Our team continues to field acute cases, new or worsening respiratory problems, serious mental health needs, and ongoing concerns about toxic exposure. And we do everything we can to connect people to health care support. Unfortunately, many of those we serve do not have insurance or cannot realistically use the coverage they have, which makes this part of the work incredibly challenging. But what this program offers, especially for individuals without access to affordable health care, is something they would not otherwise receive, which is a comprehensive exam that functions like an annual check while also contributing to rigorous research on how our community is recovering.

That screening in particular then becomes an advocacy tool with real policy implications because it generates the data needed to ensure that as new as new resources come available, those most impacted and exposed to the wildfire, including immigrant, uninsured, and working class families are truly represented in the study and can equitably receive the support they need. For these reasons, we respectfully urge you to pass s b 2969.

K. Thank you very much. Up next. Let's see. Hawaii Community Health, Dana Moore.

Aloha. Can you hear me?

Yes. We hear you fine. Please proceed.

Aloha, Chairs and Members. Hawaii Community Health stands in strong support of SB 2969 supporting MauiWES. We submitted written testimony with a lot of details about how we respond to and support MauiWES, but I'd like to add a brief comment. My name is Dayna Moore. I'm a Kānaka Maoli nurse, born and raised and rooted in Maui.

Our organization pivoted from pandemic response directly into wildfire recovery, and I have supported MauiWES since the beginning while living amongst the affected community. I've experienced this recovery both professionally and personally.

Right now, as you know, we're also experiencing severe flooding, wind damage, devastation, and trauma from the current kona low storm. And I'm very mindful of our community is going to be doubly impacted. Many of us working in wildfire disaster recovery are simultaneously responding to this chronic crisis and recovery and now into another acute crisis.

So it is a reminder that disaster recovery is not linear. And what we are seeing from the fires is the disaster of after the disaster, delayed illness, mental health impacts are surfacing as families rebuild. On Maui, it can take months to access primary care or mental health supports. We face a critical shortage of health care providers and specialists. At Maui clinics, we provide health and mental health screenings.

Specialists and community partners are on hand. We train nursing, medical, and mental health students in real time. This is real community care, strengthening our local workforce capacity. I've heard that participants say in this program that MauiWES has saved their life. And as a crisis responder in the burn zone, I've also experienced serious health impacts that required medical care.

I truly don't know where many in our community would be without MauiWES. Funding programs already delivering vital services is really critical now, and early screening and proactive intervention saves lives, protects health, and conserves public resources. So the return on this investment will be immeasurable, and I respectfully ask your support of SB 2969 on behalf of Hawaii Community Health. Mahalo.

Thank you very much. Up next, Evelyn Del Valle.

Aloha, Chair and Members of the Higher Education Community. My name is Evelyn Del Valle. I grew up on, I was born and raised on Maui, and now I work with Roots Reborn, where we support the migrant and mixed status families in Lahaina and across Maui Island.

I am here in strong support of SB 2969 to continue the funding for Maui Wildfire Exposure Study. Growing up on Maui, I saw that many of the adults around me struggle to access health care. And so now over two years after the fire, the health impacts are still unfolding.

Many residents are now experiencing respiratory issues, mental health challenges, and concerns about long term exposure. For many of the families we work with, symptoms didn't appear right away, and they are now only beginning to understand the toll that the disaster has taken on their health.

Programs like Maui Wildfire Exposure Study are critical because they provide trusted community based screening, early detection, and referrals to care. For many families, especially the ones that we work with, these programs are the very first that they have been able to access health screenings in a way that feels safe, comfortable, and accessible to them.

Continuing this work ensures that our community is not forgotten and that the health concerns are identified early before they become more serious. And for these reasons, I respectfully urge for you to support SB 2969 and continue investing in this long term of Maui health long term health of Maui's community. Mahalo for your time and your consideration.

Okay. Thank you. And apologies for mispronouncing your last name. Del Valle. Okay. Christine Andrews.

Hi. My name is Christine Andrews. I'll stand on my written testimony. But, again, I want to reiterate for the people of Maui, you know, the experience here, the need for access to the health care and the mental health care in the aftermath of the fires. We're still seeing and witnessing the impact on our community and the vital work that's being done by the study to actually document the impacts is really necessary. Thank you so much for your time.

Okay. Thank you for testifying. Up next, Dr. Christopher Knightsbridge.

Hi. Can everybody hear me?

Yes. We hear you fine. Please proceed.

Okay. Cool. So thank you so much for calling up this bill and discussing this further. So first off, my name is Dr. Christopher Knightsbridge. I serve dual roles. One, I work in Lahaina with patients every week. I fly out there.

And also I work as a researcher with the MauiWES study. Again, what I see in the study mimics what I see on the ground. Just to make sure everybody is clear, this is one of two bills as, Dr. Juarez said earlier. I think that's getting a lot of confusion. This is for expansion of our study to include up to 800 new children.

That's gonna be our sole focus next year, and we're gonna need those funds in order to go out there and reach children that need that need our assistance and help. We are not just the study. We do equally or even more, I argue at least, intervention, treatment, trainings for Maui medical and mental health care providers who come to our events and learn under supervision.

We just, we just published a new article in one of, like, the world's top tier medical journals, and it shows that all of Maui was impacted by these fires, especially in regards to mental health. If you guys want a copy of that, just hit me up and I'll send you, I'll send you that and answer any questions you want.

Really, the studies kind of put UH, if we're just gonna focus on, like, the education part because I know this is kinda like Education Committee. But in in terms of, like, becoming a gold standard for post fire disaster research, there's really no question. MauiWES has become the gold standard for sure.

When we, when we talk to other studies, it's like, for some reason, it's not enough people taking advantage of the events to get the people help. Our participants are not really just participants. They're partners.

And we make sure that every single one of them and their families and friends are hooked up with support, as much support as we can possibly give them. This again, this is without being funded for it. So this is why we need more funding so we can actually do this.

This is mostly through volunteer work and we have and partners like Roots Reborn and others. So yeah. And I guess two more parts would be we save the state a lot of money. Prevention is always cheaper than treatments.

Right? So the 3 million now is nothing in the long term. It's gonna save the state insane amounts of money. And one final ask is if you guys are kind enough and to support us with this work and pass this bill, we still need one more committee to be called. If you feel comfortable doing it, like, maybe ask Finance Committee to list this as one of your priority bills.

Because we are really doing a lot of work, but we can't continue without your support. And we're very close. We're super close to getting this done. Thank you all so much. Ask me any questions you want either now or later. That's all. Thanks.

Alright. Thank you very much. We'll take your suggestion under advisement. Up next, Stephanie Villalobos.

Hello. Can you guys hear me?

Yes. We hear you fine. Please proceed.

Hi. So I had submitted my testimony, and I just wanna just say that my name is Stephanie Villalobos. I'm a Maui resident, community member, and a Community Care Navigator with Roots Reborn. I'm here to support SB 2969.

I personally participated in the study and it was very meaningful. You know, I go to my doctor regularly, but just really sitting down and talking to somebody and going having that experience is very meaningful, especially with everything that has happened.

And, you know, the things that keep happening. I cannot stress enough how important this, you know, the study is and expanding it would be wonderful. You know? Yeah. Strong support. Thank you so much.

Okay. Thank you for your testimony. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify or on Zoom? Could you identify yourself for the record please, and any organizational affiliation you may have?

Yes. Aloha mai kākou. I'm Alika Maunakea, a professor at the University of Hawaii, John A. Burns School of Medicine.

Okay. Please proceed.

Okay. Aloha, Chair and Members of the Committee. First, I hope everyone here and across our communities is recovering well after the recent kona low storm. Unfortunately, events like this remind us that disasters don't end when the winds stop or the waters recede.

They often leave behind environmental exposures and health impacts that not that may not become visible for months or even years unless we're actively studying them. So as a professor at the University of Hawaii, we were able to establish the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study and the Maui Health Registry.

I stand on my more detailed written testimony in strong support of this bill. But I'll add briefly that after the Maui wildfires, we launched MauiWES because we recognize that without rigorous community based monitoring, many of the long term health consequences of disasters simply go undocumented and therefore unaddressed.

As Hawaii faces more frequent and severe environmental events, this type of public health infrastructure becomes essential for protecting our communities. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify today, and I'm happy to answer the questions the committee may have. Mahalo nui.

Thank you so much. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Please come up to the podium.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Jack Lewin, the Administrator of SHPDA. I don't know what happened to our testimony, but we strongly support this as well. You've heard so many good points.

I won't reiterate those, but I will share that I think we will be facing a higher number of uninsured people and particularly on Maui. In our survey last year of the uninsured across the state, we noted that on the East Side of Hawaii Island and on Maui.

We had a more than twice the national the, I mean, statewide average of uninsured people, and that number is sure to rise in 2027 and thereafter. So we think this study is important and it really does provide outreach for people in a prevention way. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much, Dr. Lewin. Anyone else in the room wishing to testify? If not, Members, please note we have several piece of the testimony on this in support from UH, Council Chair Alice Lee of Maui County Council. I'm sorry.

Council Member Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins of Maui County Council as well. Hawaii Medical Association, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Public Health Institute, Kaiser Permanente, and a few dozen individuals.

Members, any questions, Senate Bill 2969, SD 1? And just to clarify, I did misspeak. The bill that we heard earlier was for emergency appropriation for the for this fiscal year 25-26, whereas this bill is for funding for the next fiscal year 26-27. So thank you, Dr. Knightsbridge, for pointing that out. Members, any questions?

Seeing none, we move on to the next bill. Senate Bill 3238 SD One relating to language access. This bill establishes a language access education and workforce development program at the University of Hawaii, appropriates funds. I think we just lost Debbie with So we'll move on to BLIR. Okay. Thank you very much. DLIR in support. Up next, Hawaii status on the commissional status 11.

Good afternoon. Yasmin Cheney with the Commission on the Status of Women. I stand on our written testimony in support of this measure, and I thank you for your consideration and support.

Okay. Thank you very much. Up next, the legal clinic. Also in support.

Aloha Chair and Vice Chair and Members. Thank you for hearing this bill. This is an important bill. It'll increase language access, meet our academic objectives, and develop workforce, and meet our the needs of our community. Just highlight a little bit about the community.

Our community, as you know, is diverse. About 18% are foreign born, and about one in four members of our community speak a language other than English at home, and about 29 speak English. That is done very well, and I counted as limited and, illiterate proficient speakers of English. And we have multiple languages in the world listening. I can't miss them all.

I mean, one of the good things we have here is that we we have students who are learning more than one language and or are actually native speakers of one language and learn a second language, and the DOE has a certification of students who pass can speak more than two languages. So these are students who who would be eligible for or interested in this language. And we also have the University of Hawaii students who are taking classes or who are alternative language speakers who might be interested in qualifying. What we need is to train these people to meet our needs in the community. There are civil rights mandates for, agencies and others to provide language access.

And as you may have noticed, the recent storm is clearly an example of where sometimes even people's speaking English need a lot of help. So you can imagine the difficulty facing communities that don't have a

proper language.

Now this is not this is the the training that we get at the university, and we hope would be available at more than one campus, would be also added because they have internships. So it's real life experiences. Then eventually, if they become more capable, they also have to try to pass the certification offered by an agency that certifies. So we would we think this is a good program. It meets community needs, and we really do have to honor and support these communities. Thank you.

K. Thank you very much. Up next, Hawaii Coalition for Immigrant Rights.

Hello, Chair, [unintelligible], and Members of the Committee. My name is Andrew Jacques, and I will testify on behalf of Hawaii Coalition for Immigrants Rights. And I was just thinking what I'm gonna tell you because I already was testifying on this bill, and you know the cases about because I'm Ukrainian. I used to work with Ukrainians. And I just remembered that I have really interesting fact that was actually surprising in Hawaii first month when I just came here because I was certified for Ukrainian, Russian, and Polish, languages in Hawaii in the University of Hanoi, and it was for free.

And it was, I got a certification that helped me actually to provide services to Ukrainian people and Russian and Polish as well. So we sent it on a strong support of this bill, and you really know how it's needed, your language success for people who've ended up in Khwai'an because they wanted,

but just because we find that we

have people here who give me shelter. And the language success is really important for our communities. And thank you for the opportunity to testify. K. Thank you very much.

K. Now we're gonna transition to people who have registered via Zoom. Hello, Karen? Not present. Mike is not present. Testimony and support. Christine Andrews?

Hi. I will stand on my written testimony. I just want to note, that for us here in Maui and in Lahaina at the time of the fires, you know, a good percentage of our Lahaina residents at the time are foreign born and are English language learners, and so we're witnessing here in Maui the shortage of language access has been inter has interfered in their recovery. And so we stand I stand in strong support of this bill as something we witnessed the need for here in Maui. Thank you.

K. Thank you very much. Marcela Aloha Lani Paila.

Good afternoon. I stand on my testimony. I would also like to add that my testimony is going to be published by the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators on their advocacy, page because it represents the point of view of professional interpreters and translators. Generic trainings on ethics do not produce competent interpreters and translators. They simply help them to become more ethical in what they're doing.

To produce competent interpreters and translators, People need to acquire skills and normally they do that by taking language specific trainings, which the University of Hawaii does not offer at this time, except in KCC's ASL program. So, you know, it's a pleasant dream that generic trainings are going to produce the skilled interpreters and translators that our our people need, but it has no basis in reality. And I believe that it will open up the agencies that try to put people in into these roles to serious legal liability. So I'm asking the coalition that is supporting this bill, a coalition which I respect and admire, to please do more research and do more thinking and come up, with a better plan. One that is aligned with the reality of interpreter and translator competence.

Thank you. Any questions?

Oh, we'll get to that section later, but thank you for your testimony. I'm sorry. I missed one individual in person. Marnessa Ray? Raya? Ria?

Good afternoon, members of the committee. I'm Marnessa, a woman gender studies student at Manoa. I stand on my written testimony in support of SB 3238 as it supports the creation of a more inclusive environment by its investment in language access education. I urge you to pass this measure as having access to language services is a critical component to the empowerment of an individual within a community. Thank you for your consideration and support.

K. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Senate bill 3238 SD One.

Aloha, Chair Garrett, Vice Chair Amato, and Members. Apparently, on Friday, we didn't do very well getting our testimonies loaded up.

Apparently, it needed to be resubmitted a second time once we reschedule from Friday to Monday. So I might have slipped to the cracks there.

Okay. That's what it was, but we'll we'll make sure that's done. Thank you very much. We we are a strong supporter of of establishing this, and we, despite the the the understandable, concerns we heard expressed earlier, we think that there are people that the university does have access to people who speak fluently of the array of languages that we need to acquire. So we think this is a very appropriate bill, and we strongly support it. Thank you very much.

Okay. Thank you, doctor Luang. Anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Hello?

Aloha. Good afternoon, chair, vice chair, and members. Tina Sablan from the legal clinic. I just resubmitted our written testimony, and we'll largely stand on that, but we did want to say from the perspective.

At the legal clinic, we are a nonprofit, we provide immigration legal services, community education, and policy advocacy, and we see language access as being so critical for people being able to, access public safety protections, justice, understand their rights, and really meaningfully access, critical public services. And so I do wanna say as well that a lot of thought and research and coalition building has gone into the development of this bill. We strongly support it. We do anticipate that there will continue to be demand in the area of legal services. We rely heavily on third party language services and the work that we do, and and we wholeheartedly think that this program will help to expand capacity and continue this pipeline of qualified interpreters and translators in our community.

Thank you so much.

Okay. Thank you very much. Anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Seeing none. Members, any questions? Seeing none. We'll move on to the next bill. Senate Bill 3286, relating to University of Hawaii. Requires UH to develop the facilities and student housing master plan.

Requires reports to the legislature. Effective 07/31/2050. First to testify on this measure, University of Hawaii. Okay. UH is standing in support. Anyone else in the room wishing to testify on Senate Bill 3286? Dr. Lewin.

Thank you, Chair, Vice Chair, Members. We strongly support this as well. We think this is, and we're spending, we think we estimate well over $400 million on Alzheimer's today in terms of healthcare costs, not to mention all the cost to families and others.

So we think this is a very important area for us, and we think that we will attract a great deal of research money because of the diversity of our population. So we're in a good position to actually benefit from it. So thank you for supporting this.

Okay. Thank you very much. Anyone else? Anyone on Zoom for this one? No? Okay. Members, any questions, Senate Bill 3286, SD 1? Seeing none. Moving on to the last bill.

Senate Bill 2657, SD 1, relating to Alzheimer's disease and related dementias research. We heard a similar bill earlier this session. This bill establishes the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias ADRD Research Center of Hawaii within UH.

Requires the research center to be affiliated with School of Medicine and few other items here. So I won't read the whole thing out loud. But up first, we have the University of Hawaii, Dr. Masaki. Not present. Providing comments. Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women testifying in support.

Hi. Llasmin Chaine again for the Commission on the Status of Women. I stand on my written testimony in support and thank the committee for its consideration and support of this measure. Thank you very much.

Okay. Thank you very much. Let's see. Do we have Hayden Cobb here in the room?

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Hayden Cobb, and I strongly support SB 2657 because, as someone who is an orphan because of Alzheimer's disease, I know my story is one of many, especially in Hawaii. And by 2050, there's gonna be approximately 61,200 people that are 65 and older that will be living with the disease in all the Hawaii Islands.

And those numbers are increasing rapidly, which is why I believe establishing a designated specific dementia research unit in UH, it provides sustainable solutions to target certain, to target certain ways to accurately get data and precise data for this disease. Thank you for allowing me to testify.

Thank you, Hayden. Going Zoom, do we have Peter Weston Black on Zoom? Go ahead, Peter. Go ahead. Please proceed.

Alright. Thank you for the opportunity. I'm a retired professor living on the Ninole on the Big Island. My wife, Barbara, who's my caretaker because I have Alzheimer's disease. And I'm an Alzheimer's patient. In my opinion, establishing a research unit at UH on these lines is a splendid idea, and I think it would be a huge step forward for the state and its people.

The opportunity to take part in clinical trials if nothing else without having to fly to the mainland every time they wanna take a blood sample. Having high quality research done here in this state. It needs to be done here, and it needs to have a very strong multicultural focus because the disease plays out differently in different communities. Well, that's what I had to say, and thank you for listening to me.

Okay. Thank you very much for your testimony. Is Barbara there with you?

She is right over there.

Okay. We have her registered to testify as well.

You're supposed to come up.

There we go.

Yes. I'm testifying strongly on support of this bill too, and I appreciate your attention to it. I think particularly having culturally relevant research being done on these islands would be very helpful in the long run. And if there was a centralized hub in the islands devoted to research, collaboration, and developing community support, I think it'd be very helpful.

And it's needed to understand dementia of all kinds, which is increasing dramatically in numbers in these islands and improving care and bringing new hope to families who are affected by the disease. It's very difficult on families for families. So thank you for hearing me. And our testimony was late, but we stand by it. Thank you.

Thank you very much for your testimony. Okay. Is there anyone else in the room wishing to testify on Senate Bill 3238, SD 1? Yes, please.

Chair Garrett, Vice Chair Amato, Members of the Committee. I'm Coby Chock with the Alzheimer's Association. Sorry. Our testimony was in a little late today. But it is in strong support of this bill, which would establish Alzheimer's research unit here and really start the process of being able to qualify and being able to fight for federal funds that are available to continue this research among our population.

One thing that I wanna note is that in the House version of this bill, the Attorney General submitted testimony stating that they recommended including a line about this being of statewide importance. They didn't submit for this bill in particular, but I did wanna highlight that because I think it might be relevant to include going forward. Thank you, Chair.

Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you for that suggestion. We'll double check that. Okay. Anyone else in the room wishing to testify? Anyone else via Zoom on this measure? Seeing none. Members, questions? Senate Bill... I'm sorry. 2657, SD 1. Okay. Seeing none. We'll take a short recess. Recess.

Reconvening the House Committee on Higher Education. We're gonna roll right into decision making on today's six bills.

The first bill, House bill- I'm sorry. Senate Bill 3229 SD1 relating to This is the one regarding using the tuition to be special fund to conduct donor evaluations. Chair's recommendation here is to pass this with an HD1 simply with an effective date of 07/01/3000. Members. Any discussion? Seeing none, vice chair for the vote, please.

Thank you, chair members. We are voting on SB 3229 SD one. Chairs' recommendation is to pass with amendments. [Vote]

Okay, thank you, members. Next bill, Senate Bill 2802, SD 1, relating to...This bill appropriates funds to establish a bachelor's degree programs in education and in agricultural science at LCC, funds to FTEs, and money for supplies and equipment to support the programs. It already has an effective date. Members, we had we had some discussion on this regarding the appropriateness of setting up a four-year degree within the community college.

I, I do recognize that we do have some—three bachelor's programs at Maui College. I think that's because of the geographic isolation of the island and try to meet certain community needs. In this particular case, UH West Ohau is literally down the street from Leeward Community College. They're under the leadership of the same counselor. So, the recommendation here is gonna be in two parts.

Number one is to modify the preamble. This—my recommendation is gonna be to remove the section regarding education, recognizing that we do have a four-year baccalaureate program at UH West Oahu. So, I don't see the need to duplicate that at...Community College. The second part of the bill regarding a bachelor's in agricultural science will be the recommendation from the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to make this a bachelor of science rather than arts degree in agricultural science. And because this is a four-year degree program, we would place this at University of West Oahu and...Community College.

We'll also blank out the FTEs, as well as the appropriation amounts that is currently in the bill. We will reflect those amounts in the committee report for the Finance Committee's consideration, and I will note that it already has a defective date. Members, any questions? Senate bill 2802, SD 1. Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote, please.

[Roll Call]

Okay. Thank you, members. Next bill, Senate bill 2969, SD 1, relating to the Maui wildfire exposure study, Maui West, and the Maui Health Registry. So, this bill appropriates funds...to expand and sustain services provided by Maui West and the Maui Health Registry. So, as I noted earlier, I do stand corrected.

This is not similar to House Bill 2340, 2340 that we heard earlier. That bill was an emergency appropriation for this fiscal year, whereas this one is the funding amount for the next fiscal year, '26-'27. Noting that this bill currently has an effective date, we are gonna defect it to 07/01/3000 to facilitate further discussion. Members, any discussion on Senate Bill 2969, SD 1? Seeing none, Vice Chair for the vote, please.

[Roll Call]

Okay. Thank you, members. Up next, Senate Bill 3238, SD 1, relating to language access. We did have a companion to this bill earlier, discussion, House Bill 2005. That was for...Chair's recommendation here is to pass this with an HD 1, removing the 3.0 FTEs that are listed. So, we'll blank that out and then add a defective data 7-1-3000 and take it to Congress. Members, any discussion? If not, vice chair for the vote, please.

[Roll Call]

Okay. Thank you very much. Members, Senate Bill 3286, SD 1, relating to UH. We did hear the companion to this one earlier this session. This is—requires UH to develop a facilities and student housing master plan, requires reports to the legislature, effective 07/31/2050. Chair's recommendation is to replace the contents of this bill with said bill, House Bill 2518, the HD 1 version that we passed out of this committee.

So, just to refresh your memory, we are gonna require that UH first report to the legislature twenty days before the 2028 session. We're gonna require this study every—I'm sorry, not study, no, master plan every six years, not five. This is consistent with the CIP planning cycle. We're gonna add a new section with the blank appropriation, and that version also had a defective date of 07/01/3000. Members, any discussion? Seeing none, Vice Chair for the vote, please.

[Roll Call]

Okay. Thank you, members. Next bill or last bill, Senate Bill 2657, SD1, related to Alzheimer's disease and related dementia research. So, we did pass out a similar bill, the House Companion HB 1597. Thank you to the Alzheimer's Association for pointing out the importance of the Article 10 language.

The AGs did not submit testimony because we just reviewed the bill and it's that language is already included about the state of statewide concern, which addresses the UHL funding issues. So, in terms of the HD 1 that I'd like to suggest, we'll, what we'll do is remove the FTEs and defective date—defect the date—for 07/01/3000. Members, any discussion? Seeing none, Vice Chair for the roll, please.

[Roll Call]

Thank you, members. Just as a heads up, we do have one more hearing on Wednesday, which is for the Senate NIL bill. And then for planning purposes, don't expect a hearing on Friday afternoon. Okay. With that, we are adjourned. Thank you, everyone.