Aloha neighbors and friends!

The 2010 Legislative Session proved to be challenging -marked with finding solutions to numerous issues that included balancing the budget and finding a furlough fix. Our committee on education and housing heard about 150 bills this session. Twenty-six education and housing bills were passed and sent to the Governor.

The Legislature passed a bill that would make a $67 million appropriation from the Hawaii hurricane relief fund to restore instructional days for the 2010-2011 school year. The passage of this bill allows funding to restore the lost instructional days. Another important bill increases student instructional time. In order to prevent Hawaii schools from dropping below the national average of 180 instructional days in the future, the Legislature passed a bill that would  implement a school calendar that provides a minimum of 180 classroom instructional days, excluding professional development days or non instructional days for the 2011-2013 school year. This bill increases student instructional time from 4 hours, 43 minutes for elementary schools to 6 hours per day.

This upcoming election, voters will be able to decide if they want Board of Education members to be elected into office or if they want members to be appointed by the governor, with advice and consent by the Senate. The process would be similar to the way members of the University of Hawaii's Board of Regents are selected. Some people have said the Board of Education has been ineffective and needs more accountability. Passage of this constitutional amendment would increase the pool of prospective board members because many qualified people would not need to campaign for a seat on the board.     

During this economic downturn, the demand for affordable housing is up.  One measure passed by the Legislature is seeking new ways to address the issue. A bill was passed to explore the feasibility of single room occupancy dwellings. Single room occupancy dwellings offer a viable housing option for low-income individuals, students, single tenants, seasonal or other traveling workers, empty nester widows or widowers, and others who do not require large dwellings or private domestic appliances. This would be effective if implemented near transit hubs.

Along with the affordable housing shortage, the homeless has been an on-going problem in our state.   To help the homeless population, a bill that establishes a special fund for Housing First programs and special services that would help chronically homeless individuals was passed.

Those are some of the bills our committee worked on this session.  If you have any concerns you'd like to discuss, please contact us.

Aloha and May God Bless You,

LEARNING NEVER STOPS

"Where we stand is not as important as the direction in which we are going."

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, JR.

Our 2010 Legislative Session Staff

Back Row (Left to Right): Jacob Ng (former Committee Clerk & Senior Legislative Aide), Joanne Swearingen (Volunteer), Caroline Julian (Legislative Aide), Robert Arakaki (Volunteer), Christin Wehrsig (Legislative Aide), Allen Awaya (Committee Clerk), Valerie Ruiz (UH Legislative Intern ), Carol Pang (Volunteer), Cherry Torres (Office Manager), Front Row (Left to Right): Penny Sakamoto, Senator Norman Sakamoto, Erin Conner (Assistant Committee Clerk/Legislative Assistant)