STAND. COM. REP. NO.997

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 784

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 784, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to propose a constitutional amendment to require the Board of Education (Board) to be composed of seventeen voting members elected in a nonpartisan election and to require each school district to be composed of three representative districts.

The measure also requires the Chief Election Officer, upon ratification of the amendment, to delineate the new board districts for the purposes of regular and special elections, pending the reapportionment of electoral districts in 2010.

The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and Hawaii Government Employees Association testified in support of this measure.

Your Committee finds that the reconfiguration of the present Board to a seventeen-member body and the alignment of voters in school board districts with electoral districts will facilitate the voting process, and provide for greater accountability and school-level authority over fiscal and personnel matters. Your Committee further finds that the issues raised by this measure merit further consideration and discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 784, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair