The Senate Committee on Higher Education on March 11 amended House Bill 442, which appropriates funds to the University of Hawaii system for nursing programs, by inserting the language of Senate Bill 637 and adopted the amended measure.

The amendment was adopted during the committee's decision-making session after the university testified in support. "This testimony is presented on behalf of the University of Hawaii system, including the Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, West Oahu, and Hilo School of Nursing, in strong support of this measure," a University of Hawaii representative said during testimony and offered to answer questions.

Support for the measure was also recorded from multiple individuals and organizations listed in written testimony, and AlohaCare indicated strong support through Mike Gwen, who testified on Zoom. No members of the committee asked substantive questions of the university during the public-testimony portion.

Nut graf: The committee approved amending HB 442 by replacing its text with SB 637, the Senate nursing funding measure the university supported, moving the package forward in the legislative process. The change formalizes alignment between the House and Senate nursing proposals.

Committee action occurred in a business session after public testimony. Chair Kim announced the committee would "insert Senate Bill 637, replace the language in 442 with the language in 637." The committee then recorded affirmative votes from the chair and multiple members and noted one member excused.

The bill as amended will proceed in the legislative process; the committee did not produce additional substantive amendments or record further debate on program details during the vote.

Ending: The committee adopted the amendment and passed the measure as amended. Further fiscal and program-level details — such as specific dollar amounts per campus or program timeline — were not discussed on the record during the vote and are not specified in the committee transcript.