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Aloha HE'E Members and Participants,
Legislative hearing are coming up quickly so we appreciate your understanding of the fast turn around needed to send testimony in on time. While it is hectic in the beginning, once the Coalition finishes testimony on the various bills, the process will be more manageable. We encourage everyone to consider attending at least one hearing and testifying on behalf of the Coalition. The Coalition participates in the session both to advance issues of importance but also to educate the members about the legislative process. Your participation is critical to the success of the Coalition efforts. If If you are interested in attending a hearing please let me know at cheri@heecoalition.org and I can give you more details.
HE'E Testimony
HE'E will submit testimony in support for HB60 on instructional hours. The bill amends the definition of "student instructional hours" for elementary and secondary schools. We apologize that we did not give time for comment; however, if you have comments to our testimony, please let me know and I will include for the next hearing. Please see the testimony for HB60 here. The hearing for this bill is on Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 2:00 pm in State Capitol Conference Room 309. Please see hearing notice here.
HE'E will submit testimony in support for SB562 relating to family school leave. The bill allows parents/guardians to take time off from work to participate in their child's school activities. Please see testimony for SB562 here. The hearing for this bill is on Friday, February 1, 2013 at 1:15pm in State Capitol Conference Room 414. Please see hearing notice here.
HE'E will also submit testimony in support for HB862, relating to the School Readiness Program and HB864 on the Early Childhood Education Program. The testimony content is the same as those submitted for SB1093 and SB1095, respectively. Please see testimony for HB862 here and for HB864 here. The hearings for these two bills will take place on Friday, February 1, 2013 at 2:00 pm in State Capitol Conference Room 309. Please see hearing notice here.
HE'E will also submit testimony in support for SB1096, relating to public school redevelopment. This bill differs from SB237 in that the latter is three-year pilot program verses a long-term project. In addition, SB1096 proposes utilizing the Hawaii Community Development Authority as the entity to determine public school facilities redevelopment and community development programs. The testimony HE'E is proposing is generally the same content as that submitted for SB237, with a few amendments. The highlight of the testimony asks that community engagement be a necessary component of the project and legislation and also recommends that a member from a parent group or community organization with a focus on education and human services be a voting member for issues relating to public school facilities development. Please see testimony for SB1096 here. The hearing for SB1096 will be on Monday February 4, 2013 at 1:30pm in State Capitol Conference Room 414. Please see hearing notice here.
Please let us know if you should have comments on any of the testimony by Thursday, January 31, 2013, noon. If you are not able to make comments in time, please send them when you can and we will incorporate for the next testifying opportunity. Please also let me know if your organization does not have enough time to come to a consensus on these positions. We can also note this in our testimony. If there is not an agreement to support a position, we can offer the testimony as comments instead of a position.
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