The House version of the state budget fully restores funding to the University of Hawaii, unlike the Senate version, which only partially restores funds cut during COVID-19.
The difference — which will be hashed out by a House-Senate conference committee — underscores ongoing tension between key senators and the university.
Sens. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Mililani-Wahiawa- Whitmore Village), Donna Mercado Kim (D, Kalihi-Fort Shafter-Red Hill) and Michelle Kidani (D, Mililani Town-Waipio Gentry-Royal Kunia) previously told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that they think it’s time for UH President David Lassner to step down following years of intense grilling of Lassner and his administration before their committees.
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Dela Cruz chairs the powerful Ways and Means Committee, which includes Kidani, who is chair of the Senate Education Committee, and Kim, who chairs the Senate Higher Education Committee.
They told the Star- Advertiser in separate interviews in February that UH, under Lassner, has been too slow in making progress to meet the needs of students and the state.
In response, Lassner called the senators’ critique “a Super Bowl Sunday surprise” during a March 31 appearance on the Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program.
Kalbert Young, UH’s chief financial officer and vice president for budget and finance, did not identify any of the senators who have been most critical of UH during an interview with the Star-Advertiser last week.
“I don’t believe that UH has a bad relationship with the Legislature or the Senate, in general,” Young said. “I do think that it’s a bad relationship for certain legislators. … They just happen to be in key leadership positions within the Senate. And for that reason I suspect that some of that colors the decisions about how the Senate has crafted the budget.”
Neal Milner, a political analyst and former UH political science professor who served as the UH ombudsperson, described the relationship between the Senate and UH as being “constantly fraught.”
“The Senate wants to have more control over what the university does than the university officials and probably most of the faculty want to give them,” Milner said.”That’s the constant kind of hostility that exists. The Senate simply doesn’t want to accept the degree to which the university can operate on its own.”
On April 13 the House disagreed with the Senate’s amendment of the budget bill, known as the latest version of House Bill 300.
The university’s top legislative priorities this session included restoring funds lost during COVID-19, adding more money to address health care workforce shortages and expand the Hawaii Promise Program scholarships for local students attending UH’s three four-year universities.
The Senate’s version of the budget was approved April 11 and funded only one of UH’s 14 requests — for more funding to help address the health care workforce shortages, according to UH.
The Hawaii Promise program currently awards scholarships only to in-state students who can demonstrate financial need to attend UH’s seven community colleges. Students receive free in-state tuition and an allowance for books and supplies.
In response to UH concerns about Senate funding that UH posted on its website, Dela Cruz texted the Star-Advertiser that the Hawaii Promise Program was not included in the Senate’s amendment.
Asked about the difference in UH funding between the House and Senate, Dela Cruz told the Star-Advertiser in an interview that ”the majority of the budget is actually agreed to if you compare the Senate budget to the House budget. There’s over $9 billion dollars that is an agreement.”
For capital improvement projects the university requested $262.5 million for the 2024 fiscal year and $296 million for the 2025 fiscal year.
The Senate’s budget includes $142.5 million for the 2024 fiscal year and $93.7 million for the 2025 fiscal year in general obligation bond funding. The budget also includes $91 million for the 2024 fiscal year and $54 million for the 2025 fiscal year in general funds for various projects, according to UH.
“But between the two, if you have to pick two, clearly, the House version of the budget is far more advantageous for UH, but even the House version lacks for some of the priority funding,” Young said.
The House and Senate need to reach a compromise on the budget — and UH funding — before the scheduled adjournment on May 4.
As of Friday no conference committee had been scheduled to resolve their budget differences.
No matter how the budget gets resolved, Milner said UH leadership appears unwilling to take on powerful senators directly.
“I think that the budget is just a product and an example of the fact that the Legislature is unwilling to give the university the power to do things that it thinks it has, according to the Constitution, the university not really being in a position to confront the Legislature on how much autonomy it really has by taking the Legislature to court,” he said. “Because essentially, you’d be biting the hand that feeds you.”
