Hawaii-2024-HB2397-Amended

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that career and technical education utilizes a wide range of activities and equipment to provide students with industry-based skills and makes academic content accessible to students in a hands-on context. Examples of career and technical education equipment include anatomy tables, flight simulators, and welding simulators. These types of equipment allow for student learning simulations that can be too expensive or not pragmatic for students to perform in a regular classroom setting. While students are encouraged to explore career options and acquire the technical skills and knowledge to work toward industry-recognized certifications and high-demand careers, without access to these types of equipment, students are severely limited in the degree to which they can acquire the technical skills and knowledge and would instead have to wait to gain those skills upon employment or in other secondary licensure programs after high school.

In the department of education's State of Hawaii public education 2023-2029 strategic plan, one of the stated goals is that all students graduate high school prepared for college and career success and community and civic engagement. One avenue to achieve this goal is through expanding work-based learning experiences that are often offered through career and technical education. As educational teaching tools have become more advanced, they are increasingly expensive to procure and can involve long lead times for delivery.

Despite the advantages and opportunities that these pieces of equipment can provide, the process to procure them can be lengthy and complicated and can deter schools from purchasing them. Schools are focused on providing learning opportunities to students, and the goal of this Act is to remove the administrative barriers that can prevent these learning opportunities from happening. Just as books and maps are exempted from the Hawaii public procurement code as they are not advantageous to the State to procure them by competitive means, so, too, should these types of equipment be exempt as procurement by competitive means is adversely affecting the opportunities for students to acquire technical skills and knowledge.

The purpose of this Act is to exempt from the Hawaii public procurement code educational equipment, materials, and related training for direct student instruction in career and technical education programs in the department of education.

SECTION 2. Section 103D-102, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), this chapter shall not apply to contracts by governmental bodies:

(1) Solicited or entered into before July 1, 1994, unless the parties agree to its application to a contract solicited or entered into prior to July 1, 1994;

(2) To disburse funds, irrespective of their source:

(A) For grants as defined in section 42F-101, made by the State in accordance with standards provided by law as required by article VII, section 4, of the state constitution; or by the counties pursuant to their respective charters or ordinances;

(B) To make payments to or on behalf of public officers and employees for salaries, fringe benefits, professional fees, or reimbursements;

(C) To satisfy obligations that the State is required to pay by law, including paying fees, permanent settlements, subsidies, or other claims, making refunds, and returning funds held by the State as trustee, custodian, or bailee;

(D) For entitlement programs, including public assistance, unemployment, and workers' compensation programs, established by state or federal law;

(E) For dues and fees of organizations of which the State or its officers and employees are members, including the National Association of Governors, the National Association of State and County Governments, and the Multi-State Tax Commission;

(F) For deposit, investment, or safekeeping, including expenses related to their deposit, investment, or safekeeping;

(G) To governmental bodies of the State;

(H) As loans, under loan programs administered by a governmental body; and

(I) For contracts awarded in accordance with chapter 103F;

(3) To procure goods, services, or construction from a governmental body other than the [~~University~~] university of Hawaii bookstores, from the federal government, or from another state or its political subdivision;

(4) To procure the following goods or services [~~which~~] that are available from multiple sources but for which procurement by competitive means is either not practicable or not advantageous to the State:

(A) Services of expert witnesses for potential and actual litigation of legal matters involving the State, its agencies, and its officers and employees, including administrative quasi-judicial proceedings;

(B) Works of art for museum or public display;

(C) Research and reference materials including books, maps, periodicals, and pamphlets, which are published in print, video, audio, magnetic, or electronic form;

(D) Meats and foodstuffs for the Kalaupapa settlement;

(E) Opponents for athletic contests;

(F) Utility services whose rates or prices are fixed by regulatory processes or agencies;

(G) Performances, including entertainment, speeches, and cultural and artistic presentations;

(H) Goods and services for commercial resale by the State;

(I) Services of printers, rating agencies, support facilities, fiscal and paying agents, and registrars for the issuance and sale of the State's or counties' bonds;

(J) Services of attorneys employed or retained to advise, represent, or provide any other legal service to the State or any of its agencies, on matters arising under laws of another state or foreign country, or in an action brought in another state, federal, or foreign jurisdiction, when substantially all legal services are expected to be performed outside [~~this~~] the State;

(K) Financing agreements under chapter 37D; [~~and~~]

(L) Educational equipment, materials, and related training purchased by the department of education for direct student instruction that are specific and unique to the career and technical education program as defined in section 302A-101, such as anatomy tables, flight simulators, and welding simulators; provided that the purchase shall not exceed $500,000; and

[~~(L)~~] (M) Any other goods or services which the policy board determines by rules or the chief procurement officer determines in writing is available from multiple sources but for which procurement by competitive means is either not practicable or not advantageous to the State; and

(5) Which are specific procurements expressly exempt from any or all of the requirements of this chapter by:

(A) References in state or federal law to provisions of this chapter or a section of this chapter, or references to a particular requirement of this chapter; and

(B) Trade agreements, including the Uruguay Round General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which require certain non-construction and non-software development procurements by the comptroller to be conducted in accordance with its terms."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 3000; provided that on July 1, 2027, this Act shall be repealed and section 103D-102(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall be reenacted in the form in which it read on the day prior to the effective date of this Act.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2397
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII