STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3498

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1942

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 1942, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STUDENT TRANSPORTATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Education to establish a tiered student bus fare rate system to include free bus passes for students and households that quality for free or reduced lunch under the free and reduced price lunch program.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Mahiku Ao Mai.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Education and Department of Budget and Finance.

 

     Your Committee finds that the Department of Education provides critical student transportation services, particularly for students who lack other transportation options or face hardship in obtaining transportation to school due to economic difficulty.  Your Committee further finds that a student who qualifies for free lunch under the free and reduced price lunch program is eligible for a free bus pass.  However, free bus passes do not extend to students who qualify for reduced lunch under the program.  Accordingly, this measure expands access to student transportation services by establishing a tiered student bus fare system to allow for comparable bus fare rates for students and households that quality for reduced lunch under the free and reduced price lunch program.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1942, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1942, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

 

 

 

________________________________

MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair