Hawaii House Bill HR106

Hawaii 2025 Regular Session

• Introduced: 3/7/25
• Refer: 3/14/25
• Report Pass: 3/25/25
• Refer: 3/25/25

Caption

Requesting The Auditor To Conduct An Audit Of The Department Of Education's Capital Improvement Project Finances.

Impact

As of January 2024, the Department was reported to have over $2 billion in unspent CIP funds despite receiving nearly $1 billion in appropriations for the 2021-2023 fiscal biennium. This audit aims to enhance fiscal accountability and oversight, thereby ensuring that these funds are spent properly to provide safe learning environments. The resolution emphasizes the importance of transparency in the spending process to address significant repair and renovation needs across Hawaii's public school system.

Summary

House Resolution 106 requests the auditor to conduct an audit of the Hawaii Department of Education's capital improvement project (CIP) finances. The resolution highlights the crucial responsibility of the Department of Education in managing over 4,425 buildings statewide, which collectively exceed twenty million square feet. With approximately twenty percent of these public school buildings being over a century old, and the average building age at seventy-two years, the resolution underscores the need for maintenance and repairs to ensure the safety of students and teachers.

Contention

The proposed audit is anticipated to identify potential shortcomings in the current distribution of funds, which could lead to necessary changes aimed at improving the efficiency of CIP projects. By examining how the Department of Education prioritizes and spends its CIP funds, the audit could reveal gaps or inefficiencies in capital project management. This is particularly important in light of various local concerns about maintaining educational infrastructure.

Next_steps

The auditor is requested to provide a report of the findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days before the Regular Session of 2026. This timeline indicates a commitment to ensuring legislative action can be taken swiftly based on the audit results.