Senate bill would
let council screen
regent candidates
A state Senate bill would establish a 12-member candidate advisory council with eight members selected by the Legislature to screen candidates for the University of Hawaii Board of Regents.
Last year, the Senate rejected two of Gov. Linda Lingle's appointees: Sheldon Jim On and Edward Sultan. Both men had been active in Republican politics.
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Senate Education Vice Chairman Gary Hooser, who introduced Senate Bill 3125, said he came up with the bill after last year's confirmation battle.
"The process last year was a controversial and contentious time," Hooser (D, Kauai) said. "I thought, 'There's got to be a better way to do this.'"
Under Hooser's bill, the council would determine criteria for regent nominees and help recruit and identify candidates for the position, much like the Judicial Selection Commission does for state judges. But the Judicial Selection Commission is created by the state Constitution and not state law.
The governor, the House speaker, and the Senate president would each appoint four members to the council.
Hooser said he does not believe the bill conflicts with the Constitution, which gives the governor the power to nominate regents who then must be confirmed by the Senate.
Lingle will nominate six members this year to the 12-member Board of Regents, including the two seats rejected last year, two members whose terms expire in June and two people to fill the remaining terms of Duane Kurisu, who resigned last month, and Everett Dowling, who resigned in July, after the Legislature adjourned.
The bill is unlikely to affect this year's nominations.
Hooser said if last year's nominees would have gone through his proposed selection process, the nominations would have had a better chance of confirmation.
"This would represent a significant and relevant filter," he said, although he admits, "you will never entirely eliminate politics from any appointment."
Russell Pang, a spokesman for the governor, said the administration has not taken a position on the bill. SB3125 is scheduled to be heard Friday in the Senate Education Committee.
Another bill, which would have expanded the Board of Regents to 30 members from 12, with 18 members selected by the University of Hawaii Foundation, appears to be dead this year because no hearings are scheduled for it.
House Education Chairman K. Mark Takai (D, Newtown-Pearl City) said his committee would not hear the measure. Senate Education Committee Chairman Norman Sakamoto (D, Salt Lake-Foster Village) said he will not hold a hearing on a companion measure.
Takai said because of the controversy between the regents and the UH administration, it is not the time for the Legislature to be getting involved.
"It will just add to the fire," he said.
Rep. Kirk Caldwell (D, Manoa) admitted the timing for his bill (House Bill 1849) is bad because of the rift between UH President Evan Dobelle and the regents. But he said he was hoping for a hearing.
"I hear the governor complain, I hear other people complain that the regents are too politicized," he said.
The bill would have required that at least 10 members of the board be from out of state and that the board would meet quarterly rather than monthly. He said his purpose was to diversify the board and perhaps attract candidates from Asia as well as the U.S. mainland.
To change the number of regents would have required a constitutional amendment.
