STAND. COM. REP. NO. 258

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1144

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Higher Education and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 1144 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify the application of the State Ethics Code to allow technology transfer activities sponsored by the University of Hawaii so long as the activities are likely to create specific benefits to the State or the public, notwithstanding the simultaneous creation of a commercial benefit or individual personal benefit.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the University of Hawaii System.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Hawaii State Ethics Commission

 

     Your Committee finds that it is a matter of statewide concern to support the contributions by the University of Hawaii to the economic health and diversification of the State.  The legislature further finds that the timely and efficient commercialization of intellectual property created by basic and applied research at the University of Hawaii benefits the public.  Efficient and effective technology transfer, however, may be hampered by overly broad interpretation of general conflict of interest, fair treatment, and employment restrictions contained in the State Ethics Code.

 

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1144, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1144, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Higher Education and the Arts,

 

 

 

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair