Bill Text: HI HB1886 | 2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Senior Citizens.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 17-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-03-06 - Referred to HRE/HMS, WAM. [HB1886 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2018-HB1886-Amended.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1886 |
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TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO SENIOR CITIZENS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The promotion of mental health for our kupuna, or senior citizens, is an important part of overall public health. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Alzheimer's Association have stated that Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, which disproportionately affect senior citizens, have become a global public health crisis. According to the Alzheimer's Association, there were an estimated twenty-seven thousand individuals in the State of Hawaii aged sixty-five years and older living with Alzheimer's disease in 2017, and this figure is expected to reach thirty-five thousand by 2025.
The size of the senior citizen population is experiencing dramatic growth, which will exacerbate this public health crisis. The number of Americans sixty-five years and older will grow from 40.3 million in 2010 to a projected 74.1 million in 2030, according to the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-related Statistics' report in 2016. Similarly, the number of Hawaii residents sixty years and older will grow from 277,400 in 2010 to a projected 448,710 in 2030, according to the 2011-15 Hawaii state plan on aging.
Although there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, several studies and publications, including Jean Carper's book, "100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's and Age-Related Memory Loss," provide evidence that continuing education may help to delay the onset of Alzheimer's symptoms. Several programs aimed at promoting the mental health of Hawaii's senior citizens through formal education exist. For instance, the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Senior Citizen Visitor Program/Na Kupuna Program allows approximately three hundred Hawaii senior citizens to attend college courses free of charge without receiving university credit. These programs promote lifelong learning for senior citizens while adding the wisdom and experience of senior citizens to the classroom setting.
In addition, according to The American Council on Education, due to increased longevity and an unstable economic future, greater numbers of older adults -- aged 55 to 79 -- are looking to college as a viable option to launch a second career, pursue a new career path, start a new business, find ways to contribute to their community, or complete the educations that they started. Degrees that are particularly useful for older adults to begin new careers include teaching, including Hawaiian-language immersion, and business. Programs in the social sciences and humanities also open doors for older adults to careers that can address a broad spectrum of community needs.
Therefore, the purpose of this Act is to establish a five-year senior citizen higher education access pilot program at the University of Hawaii that allows senior citizens to attend college classes:
(1) Free of charge for no academic credit; and
(2) At reduced tuition if they earn academic credit for those classes.
SECTION 2. (a) The University of Hawaii shall establish a five-year senior citizen higher education access pilot program. The pilot program shall:
(1) Be established pursuant to rules and procedures adopted by the board of regents;
(2) Allow individuals aged sixty years or older to attend classes free of tuition for no academic credit; and
(3) Allow individuals aged sixty years or older to attend classes at reduced tuition of up to fifty per cent if they earn academic credit for those classes.
(b) The University of Hawaii shall determine which classes will be offered as part of the pilot program.
(c) The pilot program may begin in the fall semester of 2019 and shall cease to exist on June 30, 2025.
SECTION 3.
There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii
the sum of $ or so much thereof
as may be necessary for fiscal year 2018-2019 for activities related to the establishment
of the five-year senior citizen higher education access pilot program.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act; provided that the funds shall be appropriated to University of Hawaii systemwide (UOH 900) to be distributed to the various campuses for the five-year senior citizen higher education access pilot program.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2112, and shall be repealed on June 30, 2025.
Report Title:
University of Hawaii; Senior Citizens; Pilot Program
Description:
Establishes a temporary, five-year Senior Citizen Higher Education Access Pilot Program at the University of Hawaii systemwide. (HB1886 HD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
