The state Legislature’s denial of $38 million for a College of Pharmacy building at the University of Hawaii at Hilo is expected to lead to the college being found "noncompliant" in one of 30 criteria for accreditation, a top school official said.

A team from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education last month assessed the school’s qualifications and found it meeting all but one standard: "Physical facilities," John Pezzuto, dean of the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, said Tuesday.

The council’s executive board is scheduled to review the assessment team’s report and issue a ruling in June. Pezzuto said he fears the school will fall short because of the lack of facilities for the college.

"If we’re found noncompliant — and as of today it appears we will be — we have a year to explain to them how we’re going to come into compliance," he said. "Aside from moving ahead with the permanent facility, I don’t have another good answer for that right now."

Lawmakers split on whether to approve the funding — $33 million from the state and a $5 million revenue bond to be repaid by the college. Senators supported the college in their draft of the budget, but House members stood firm on withholding money for new building projects for the UH system until a backlog of repair and maintenance projects is dealt with.

"Health, safety and code violations for repairs and maintenance comes first before any other construction," Rep. Isaac Choy (D, Manoa-Punahou-Moiliili), chairman of the House Higher Education Committee, said Wednesday. "As the session went on, I held firm to that stance and that’s the House position."

The pharmacy college, which has about 350 students and about two dozen graduate-level students, operates at five sites that are not up to par with standards the council set.

"Some of our sites are half-condemned," Pezzuto said. "One is 1960s vintage, which is dismal."

Other issues the team reviewed included admissions, student experiences, assessments, curriculum and the school’s fiscal situation, Pezzuto said. Over the years, he said, the school has been compliant or partially compliant on all standards and fixed areas that were deficient.

"We were partially compliant with physical facilities because for the past six years we’ve been telling them how we’re progressing toward the permanent facility, and that was very credible," he said. The school has spent $5.5 million for design and the project is "shovel-ready," Pezzuto said, adding that when the assessment team visited the school two years ago everything seemed on track, leading to full accreditation.

"But now, when they came for the site visit, they knew we were not in the House budget, and we hadn’t secured the money, so they judged us as noncompliant," he said.

School officials and community organizers, along with students and others, lobbied heavily at the Legislature this past session but were unable to convince lawmakers.

Choy said he still is willing to work with the university and the college, but said officials would have to show him a long-term plan for repair and maintenance and overall sustainability before such a large funding request would be considered.

"The price tag on the pharmacy school is very, very, very expensive," Choy said. "At the end of the day, I’m sure we can have some kind of accommodations to comply with their accreditation report. The UH has a lot worse problems than just building a new building. I think we have to prioritize exactly what we need and I think the first priority has got to be trying to maintain what you have instead of building."