Seemingly conflicting plans at UH upset key legislator

For state Rep. Isaac Choy, the last straw came last week while reading the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Two stories in one day by sports reporter Ferd Lewis sent Choy, chairman of the House Higher Education Committee, over the top.

The first story detailed how budget problems are causing the University of Hawaii Board of Regents to consider cancelling some sports at the flagship Manoa campus. The second story revealed how Rockne Freitas, chancellor at UH-West Oahu, wants to launch a NCAA Division II athletic program with up to 10 sports in two years.

"Are there other people out there who see the lunacy in the most recent news coming out of the University of Hawaii?" asks Choy in the lead article for his newsletter to his Manoa constituents.

No fan of the governance at UH, Choy is upset because UH already has too many problems with its newest campus.

"West Oahu moved into its new campus just a year ago missing a whole building because it ran out of money, has a huge debt payment coming up, and does not have enough money to sustain ongoing education programs," Choy wrote.

In an interview Monday, Choy also said he didn’t like the UH regents’ plans to deal with the backlogged, nearly $500 million in needed repairs. UH last week said it would stop new construction while it plowed money into fixing old and neglected buildings, mostly at Manoa. But then it exempted $170 million in new construction from the freeze.

"I wanted a complete moratorium on all buildings not yet started," said Choy. "There should be no exemption list. They have exemptions for buildings that have no plans, no appropriation and no permits."

Last legislative session, UH’s budget request was cut back to only about a quarter of what was asked, mostly because of Choy’s insistence that the institution realistically address the issue of repair and maintenance.

Today he remains unconvinced that UH has gotten serious.

"They are still in the denial stage; they are not close to the acceptance stage," Choy said.

Choy said there is an issue of deferred maintenance because he doesn’t believe UH has a robust program of regular maintenance.

"They can’t deploy the money they have," he said.

Something of a showdown is set for Dec. 20, when the House and Senate Higher Education committees will hold a hearing on many of the UH’s financial problems.

"I want to have a frank talk with the system’s leaders and with the regents," Choy said.

Items to be covered include the UH-Hilo plans for the School of Pharmacy and construction of new facilities, the problems with UH-West Oahu and the UH cancer center.

"The management of the university needs to make up its mind now: Are they going to be an agent for change or protector of the status quo? Are they going to come up with solutions or continue to be the problem?" Choy asked.

Choy said he has support in the House to push for spending restrictions — and during the interview, for the first time, he raised the possibility of a nuclear option for UH.

While the university is guaranteed autonomy in its operations, Choy said the Legislature could rewrite the state budget so that university tuition is put in the state general fund, not given to UH.

That means if the UH wants to spend tuition money, it will have to get the Legislature’s permission.

Such a plan would be both a profound setback for UH and an answer to the charges of unaccountable, overspending, under-producing UH executive leadership.

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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.