The state Legislature’s budget conference committee has agreed on a proposal to fund a permanent building for the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, legislators and university officials said Friday. ADVERTISING The state Legislature’s budget
The state Legislature’s budget conference committee has agreed on a proposal to fund a permanent building for the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, legislators and university officials said Friday.
The agreement reached by House and Senate conferees totals $33 million, to be funded by $28 million in general obligation bonds and $5 million in revenue bonds.
“We’ll have a better chance of accreditation, that’s the number-one thing,” said Jerry Chang, UH-Hilo’s director of University Relations. “And construction of the project will make sure that all college of pharmacy programs will be on one campus.”
The funding and bond issue will have to be approved in floor votes by both legislative chambers and the budget signed into law by Gov. Neil Abercrombie to be finalized.
“Since it’s in the legislative budget through conference and since it’s in the governor’s executive budget, we feel pretty confident that it will move ahead,” said John Pezzuto, the pharmacy school’s dean.
The pharmacy college has been operating out of three sites, including modular buildings near the proposed construction site and two off-campus locations. In February, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education instructed Pezzuto to submit, no later than May 1, a detailed description of the school’s progress toward obtaining a physical facility — a requirement for any accredited program.
“The ACPE considered us out of compliance when it came to that one single standard called physical facilities,” Pezzuto said. “Had we not been in compliance or had we not had a good plan to come into compliance we could have been put on probation, so I think the timing could not have been more perfect.”
State Sen. Russell Ruderman, D-Puna, Ka‘u, a member of the conference committee, said Sen. Gil Kahele, a Hilo Democrat, “worked really hard to get the funding.” He also praised the efforts of Chang and Gerald De Mello, Chang’s predecessor, who has since retired.
Kahele, who’s also a budget conferee, was modest about his role in the funding, calling it “the culmination of a joint effort by many.”
“A myriad of good things will come out of this,” he said, mentioning construction jobs, better recruitment of students plus community service work, especially in rural communities, by pharmacy students, faculty and staff.
“A lot of the pharmacists and pharmacy-related people who come to educate our students and a lot of the students who become pharmacists, I think they’ll tend to stay in the community,” he said.
State Sen. Josh Green, D-Kona, Ka‘u, who’s an emergency room physician, called the funding “a great thing.”
“This will ensure that the pharmacy school can grow and recruit top-notch candidates and become an economic driver in our health care system locally in years to come,” he said.
Chang said that once the governor signs the budget into law, soliciting bids for the building’s construction and land clearing “could begin immediately.”
The university has requested funds for the pharmacy school building for several years but Pezzuto said he believes legislators did their “due diligence” before deciding to go ahead with the bond issue.
“We’ve finally reached a point where I think they understand the importance of what we’re doing as the only College of Pharmacy in the state and the Pacific region,” he said. “I think we’ve proven our ability and they’ve recognized that.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
