He was considering running and got to meet him then obviously. Um, and what impressed me was when I I met him just a little couple weeks before he actually announced. Um, he didn't know a lot about the city and he'll tell you that when he was considering that. Um, what impressed me was how quickly he learned about the city and the process of that campaign. Um, starting with the departments and what they did and what they were supposed to be doing um, with their budgets really at the global level and then eventually drilling down into specific programs um, that he made part of his campaign that he wanted to see improved. Um, and the big thing though that really impressed me was he didn't just deal with it on paper. Um, he made a point and and those of us that had experience at the city like I did.
We helped connect him to keep people in the city, civil servants who had been there for a long time because he wanted to hear their perspective on how the city was running and how it could be run better. Um and then after that he asked us to help identify community leaders um that interacted with the city and he made a point to this was during COVID so unfortunately he couldn't always meet them person to person but he would make a point of um arranging phone calls and talking to these people to get their perspectives and really when I read that civil beat article this morning I thought this is sort of exactly what I was trying to point out in my testimonies I think he'll do a real excellent job as a region of reaching out to the broader community and getting their input into the decisions that the regions need to make.
Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Dancing Honda. >> Okay. The weight of my heart is to bring a little more. >> I want one. >> Good afternoon. Aloha, Chair Kim, Vice Chair Kedani, members of the Senate Education Committee. My name is Dansen Honda, and I'm here today in strong support of the nomination of Kefamya to serve on the University of Hawaii Board of Regents. And um for my testimony, I want to briefly share a personal story of mine. Back when I was in high school, I had the opportunity and privilege to serve as au student representative on the Hawaii State Board of Education. And it was an incredible experience. But to be completely honest, um I struggled at first. I felt intimidated, out of place, and unsure of how to find my voice in rooms filled with experienced leaders. I wanted to do something, but I wasn't sure how.
And during that time, Keith stepped in, not because he had to, but because that's who he is. He didn't see me as just a student. He saw potential, and he encouraged me to speak up, to be engaged, and to take my role seriously. And more importantly, he took action. He helped connect me with stakeholders, set up meetings, and supported the initiatives that I cared about. And because of that, I started to find my voice. And that made a lasting impact on me. Right. So after um after high school, I served um I I went to University of Hawaii at Monoa and I served on the student government there, ASU, as a student body treasurer. And even today after graduating, I regularly testify here at the state legislature and advocate on issues like education, housing, and some of you may know financial literacy. Yeah. But that confidence didn't come naturally.
You know, it was built over time and it started with leaders like Keith who took the time to invest in me when I was still trying to figure things out. And you know, that's the kind of leadership he brings. And you know, the University of Hawaii has the responsibility not just to educate students, but to help develop future leaders as well, right? And having somebody like him on the board is a tremendous asset and I respect respectfully urge you to support his nomination. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you for bringing her starting her early because one day she'll tell the story how she sat on your lap before she became state center. My son sat on my lap at one point. So >> Oh, that's awesome. >> Hi. This is Amelia. >> Thank you. Say, see, just bring a little one in and we'll just melt.
>> Okay, that's all the people that I have testifying in person. Is there anyone else here wishing to testify as nominee? If not, there are nine others all in support, by the way. Okay, with that I'm going to ask the nominee to come forth. >> Allah Keith, you are no stranger to most of us, but please open your mouth. >> Better if you had a baby. >> Oh, >> yours is growing, right? >> Like Micah, he'd be too big on my lap. >> My sons are about the same size. So anyway, uh good afternoon, Chair Kim, Vice Chair Kiridani, and committee members Hashimoto, the court, and Fukunaga. Uh my name is Keith Ameia, nominee for the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, and I'm seeking the nomination and selection as a regent because I feel I have the skill sets, background, and experience to be an effective regent.
The bulk of my career has been centered around education and uplifting our younger generations. So I view this opportunity to serve on the regions as a way to continue service to the community and helping education and our youth throughout the state. Um I believe you all received a copy of my resume and my responses to Chair Kim's questionnaire.
So I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have of me uh regarding any of those documents or anything else that you might want to ask. >> Thank you. I'm going to open up to member Senator Dors. Thank you, Keith, for uh continuing to put yourself out there to serve uh in a public capacity. So, we appreciate you. Um and thank you for the time that you had spent in my office. We had a lot of uh good discussions. Uh I agree with uh Mike Yado as far as your knowledge with regards to sports. So, I did want to bring up in our discussion too in my office NIL that's uh becoming a very huge topic. Uh now right now through previous hearings uh the AD's office um and the university I believe had said they had raised maybe about $1.5 million something like that.
Um given your background and how much you have privately uh raised for sports, uh do you feel that the university could do better in its capacity to raise this kind of funds? Because when I mean if if these funds do become available for NIL purposes, are we just like creating a revolving door for the university to keep coming back to us and asking us for more money? Well, I know that uh there's still I I believe a pending bill to fund uh the university uh with NIL monies and I know it's a priority of the governor and some key legislators as well as sports fans across the state. Um and of course the uh athletic department. Um I know the value of NIL and the importance. Um myself along with several other business leaders in the community raised several hundred,000 towards uh NIL uh through private funding over the last three years.
But having said that, there's a lot of competing needs out there. Uh whether it's throughout the University of Hawaii system, our public schools, um our Lahina wildfire victims who are still struggling, the Kona storm victims, uh those who are impacted by the reduction in federal funding. So I'm very sensitive to the competing needs out there. Um I support the funding of NIL this year, but I do think looking forward uh to next year and the years beyond um the university and the athletic program in particular uh needs to know that they can't count on the legislature to fund NIL every year. And we need to look at private private funding like um all of our counterparts throughout the country. uh have used for NIL funding. Um it's hard, it's not easy, but um it needs to be done. >> Yeah. Do you believe that the uh department, sorry, the university has basically exhausted all of its resources before coming to taxpayers and asking taxpayers for money?
>> I don't know enough to fairly answer that question, but of course, the athletic department or any entity can always do more in terms of fundraising. And so you need to look at every possible uh avenue of fundraising. You need to look at in between and underneath uh sofa cushions. And um you know there there's I'm just going to rattle off off the top of my head. Uh I don't know where student activity fees uh are and and whether they have been reviewed and have been increased over the last several years. um ticket pricing, um sponsorships, uh it's not easy, but uh I feel that athletic programs have an advantage over other parts of the university and that I mean it's just frankly harder to fund for the biology department or ocean oceanography. Um sports has a built-in vehicle to raise money through selling tickets and sponsorships uh like I said and and and philanthropic donations.
So uh we need to explore all those avenues before coming back to the legislature next year and beyond. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you chair. >> Just to follow up on that questioning you mentioned that um you can't keep coming in for NIL but they do keep coming in for shortfall for athletics. So we are already subsidizing the athletic program um every year and so this NIL would be on top of that. um which is why we have the bill with an endowment fund on it. So hopefully that is not going to be reoccurring. So you know how do we how do we manage that? Do we fund NIL and not fund the athletic department? >> So I view those issues differently. Um as you know Senator, the vast majority of division one programs uh uh run a deficit every year. And so you the University of Hawaii is no different than than than most athletic programs.
So that that funding to make up the shortfall is is greatly needed and appreciated. Um but uh I I view that as a priority over NIL because I um if I had to choose covering a shortfall versus um extra money to athletes, I'm going to pick filling the shortfall. And then you mentioned that you weren't quite sure on the student athletic fees and whether it's been reviewed or raised and so forth. My understanding it hasn't been. However, um when we talk about that we have a tuition and fees surplus. So it's kind of hard to raise fees when you have a surplus, right? It's kind of hard to raise tuition when you have a surplus. And so we want to keep tuition low so our residents can afford higher education because across the country it's just skyrocketing and student loans are skyrocketing as well and therefore the value for higher education around the country has has diminished.
So um yeah so as far as looking at how you know raise more fees but we have that surplus. So how do we justify that? >> So um I I heard Senator Hashimoto's question to nominee Laderta about the surplus and um I'm not as wellversed uh on that issue as I should be and I will be if I become a region but hopefully I'm presuming the president and her team are are working on a plan um and a suggestion or recommendation on how to deal with the surplus and how to spend it down and the timeline for spending it down. Now having said that uh the university is is uh basically a multi-billion dollar corporation and it's prudent for any large or small corporation to have some type of reserve in case of a rainy day. Now what that amount is I'm not sure >> 16%.
>> Okay, >> it says that and and the surplus is is in excess of the 16%. Just for your information. So, we're not taking that that reserve away or the the bu the budget is not proposing that you take they take the 16%. >> Okay. Well, then that's good to know. I just wanted to make that point clear that obvious and I didn't I wasn't suggesting the legislature was going to >> Right. Just just to you know, it's hard to keep track of what's going on. And you know, the university has made a good point that we shouldn't be taking student tuition and putting it into the general fund. It should go for the university. But um you know you need to know that whenever they come and ask us for monies like five million for NIL it comes to the general fund. So any money that you that you ask for comes from the general fund.
So in essence then you know if you have the surplus then the university should utilize it. I'm going to read one thing and then I'll turn it over. I know there's more questions. So going back to this governance for a new era. Uh there's a whole paragraphs on this. says trustees must be willing to withstand pressure to grow athletic programs that are a net drain on resources and they should ensure that salary contracts for coaches as reward uh academic performance first and athletic success second. So I just read that's part of the um overall governance because there is that pressure right that comes forth over and above the athlet um the uh academics. some questions. Senator Hashim. >> So, I guess uh thanks um Keith for being here. I guess I I'll kind of go off of the the continuation of the surplus. So, I guess where how do we ensure that we be more proactive in the future, right?
I think it seems like in my mind it it was kind of a surprise at least to the legislature that there was a surplus. And I think what really bothered us was that it was there was really no action until the legislature brought this to the forefront. And so, you know, what's done is done. But I think, you know, all that we can do now is just ensure that the regents that we're putting on to the border regents, number one, know that this is happening and number two know how to react and on and how to make things better and and to make sure that we're spending our money in in the in the best way possible. So, I guess, you know, you you're very familiar. you were, you know, you served to to lead the border regions as staff before like so so I guess >> what what can we expect I guess from your role of giving advice to other regions on how do we be a little bit more proactive on big issues like a $200 million plus surplus above and beyond the border region's policy.
Right. Well, um, if I'm lucky enough to be on a regent, um, you've made your concerns loud and clear and and we as as a board and the president and her administration needs to be much more proactive and communicate. I view the legislature as not an adversary but as a partner and as a partner we should discuss things before decisions are made or if an issue well before an issue arises so that we can game plan accordingly. And so um you know you you weren't aware of this uh high surplus issue. Um, now you're made aware. Me as a prospective regent uh has been made aware and and fairly new president Henso has been made made aware. And so I'm confident before next session there will be a game plan in place on how to deal with the existing surplus and how to deal with surpluses moving forward.
>> And I understand it potentially is a a one-time thing. You know, I think when you talk to the university administration, they say it's co it was because the co monies and the maintenance of effort uh issues, but I guess when we now have this big surplus, what do we deal with things like NIL? Like is it is it smart that we're having a concurrent bill to ask for additional general funds and we're sitting on 200 million? I guess, you know, I just like to get your thoughts of priorities here and and you know, the view of the university in terms of being prudent. It's kind of we look at and being like okay like interesting that you come for both right you want your surplus plus you want additional funds and other bills so I just want to understand what as a region you know I think people got to steer the administration in the right direction what how would you steer steer the administration in this case >> so as I said earlier well if it comes down to a shortfall versus NIL I I I support helping cover the shortfall uh in terms of >> we're not we're not covering a shortfall Right.
We we have a surplus. >> Well, in athletics, I I athletics uh you know regularly athletics, right? >> Yeah. Or >> slight profit or or breaking it. It's a struggle for for athletics, but you know, now that we know that the the surplus is an issue, um we're going to make absolutely sure as as a board and and work with the president and her team to come forward with a plan um on how to address the current surplus and how to deal with future situations ahead of time so that we're not being after the fact. But but in some respects, don't you think having to come in for a supplemental bill, if NIL is truly important, don't you think the border regions and the president should have just funded it fully and given athletics more money if it was a statement of values instead of just sitting on the surplus and then coming for general funds instead?