Restoration of funds for University of Hawaii athletics added to Senate bill

Suddenly, state Senate Bill 3268 looks a lot different than it did a day ago.

As originally drafted, the measure would require the University of Hawaii’s Board of Regents to be more directly involved in the hiring and firing of athletic directors and high-salaried coaches. That is still the core of the bill.

But when it was approved by the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee on Thursday, chairman Donovan Dela Cruz recommended an amendment appropriating $3.6 million from state general funds to the UH-Manoa athletic department and $400,000 to UH Hilo sports.

The committee approved it unanimously, but the bill still has a long way to go before it can become law.

The $4 million equals the athletics subsidy UH received annually before it was cut last year. UH asked for restoration of the subsidy as part of its supplemental operating budget request submitted to the Legislature and the governor before this year’s session.

SB 3268 would authorize the BOR to terminate UH-Manoa’s athletic director and other personnel for cause, and also give the board responsibility in approving any athletic department hires with annual salaries of $200,000 or more.

Other bills related to high school interscholastic sports are also still alive.

SB 3296 and its companion HB 2427 would redesignate interscholastic sports from extracurricular to co-curricular at Hawaii public schools. The Senate version was approved by the Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday. The redesignation would make membership on interscholastic sports teams a right rather than a privilege for any interested students.

This could create various problems, including funding for team equipment and uniforms, and make Title IX compliance “impossible,” according to testimony opposing the bill from Hawaii High School Athletic Association Executive Director Christopher Chun.

The bill calls for the Department of Education to conduct a study to determine costs associated with such a redesignation.

HB 2277, which requests funding for the DOE to promote surfing as an interscholastic high school sport, is still alive after two House votes.

Only the Maui Interscholastic League has fielded enough teams to compete since the sport was approved for high school competition in 2014.

In written testimony, DOE interim superintendent Keith Hayashi cited concern with “risk factors” at practice areas and also said that an informal survey showed six out of 23 Oahu public high school principals were interested in surfing as an interscholastic sport.