STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2243

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 896

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 896 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to amend the law relating to education.

Prior to the hearing on this measure, your Committee posted and made available for public review a proposed S.D. 1, which amends this measure by deleting its contents and replacing it with language to:

(1) Require the Department of Education to submit annual reports to the Legislature outlining certain information concerning capital improvement projects and facilities;

(2) Require the reports to be posted on the Department's website annually in a searchable format;

(3) Provide that any capital improvement project funds encumbered for more than five years without commencement of construction shall be specifically identified and justified, or shall be subject to legislative review for reversion or reassignment; and

(4) Establish a five-year pilot program authorizing the Superintendent of Education to redesignate funded, vacant positions in the Office of Facilities and Operations as positions exempt from Hawaii's Civil Service Laws for the purpose of hiring qualified professionals.

Your Committee has amended this measure by adopting the proposed S.D. 1.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 896, as amended herein, and recommends that it be recommitted to your Committee on Education, in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 896, S.D. 1, for further consideration.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

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DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair