Voters will not get say on UH autonomy

Lawmakers on Wednesday shelved a bill that would have let voters decide whether the University of Hawaii should remain semiautonomous.

Senate Bill 637 proposed a constitutional amendment to remove the "exclusive jurisdiction" the university’s Board of Regents has over the "internal structure, management and operations of UH."

The bill’s author said the measure was prompted by concerns from lawmakers and the public over the university’s spending decisions in recent years.

The bill had been passed by the Senate Higher Education and Judiciary committees, but Ways and Means Chairwoman Jill Tokuda deferred the measure indefinitely at a hearing Wednesday.

"I know that there has been a number of issues surrounding the University of Hawaii that we have had a lot of discussions about, a lot of concerns that have been raised … but I also know that there are concerns about this particular approach," Tokuda (D, Kailua-Kaneohe) said, "and perhaps we’d like to consider others ways of (addressing) this."

The state Constitution allows the regents to set policy freely as the need arises, rather than having to wait for the Legislature to be in session and give permission — a change voters approved through a constitutional amendment in 2000. But it also gives the Legislature "exclusive jurisdiction" to decide when a university issue is of such statewide concern that it can override the board.

"Lord knows I’ve been critical of my alma mater. Lord knows they deserve it," said Sen. Sam Slom (R, Diamond Head-Kahala-Hawaii Kai). "But this is definitely not the way to go. We should not be micromanaging."