CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 208-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: S.B. No. 2125

S.D. 1

H.D. 2

C.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir and Madam:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 2125, S.D. 1, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEACHER LICENSING,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Allow the Department of Education to hire unlicensed individuals as teachers on an emergency basis for five, rather than three, years;

(2) Require that unlicensed teachers hired on an emergency basis make continuous and verifiable progress toward satisfying licensing requirements; and

(3) Sunset on June 30, 2031.

Your Committee on Conference finds that, while emergency hires are a foundational component of the State's educator workforce and central to mitigating the ongoing teacher shortage, existing law compels many to exit the classroom annually due to an inflexible three-year deadline to achieve licensure. Currently, only one‑in‑three emergency hire teachers obtains a license within that timeline due to various challenges in the licensing process. By extending the licensing timeline to five years, but requiring emergency hires to demonstrate progress toward licensure annually, this measure supports increased educator retention while protecting instructional quality.

Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by:

(1) Adding language that authorizes charter schools to employ unlicensed individuals as teachers on an emergency basis for five, rather than three, years, pursuant to certain conditions;

(2) Specifying that any individual employed by the Department of Education or a charter school on an emergency basis before June 30, 2031, shall be permitted to continue such employment for up to five years from the individual's initial date of hire, with the condition that the individual shall continue to demonstrate active pursuit of licensing each year of employment; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2125, S.D. 1, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2125, S.D. 1, H.D. 2, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

____________________________ JUSTIN H. WOODSON Co-Chair	____________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM Chair
____________________________ JACKSON D. SAYAMA Co-Chair
____________________________ MIKE LEE Co-Chair