STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1042-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1840

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1840, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to develop an alternative pathway for a visiting international educator permit aligned to the duration of the educator's J-1 visa program.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education; Teacher Lounge; The Legal Clinic; Waipahu Safe Haven Immigrant/Migrant Resource Center; Mercado de La Raza; Roots Reborn; Hawaiʻi Coalition for Immigrant Rights; CARES; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaiʻi Teacher Standards Board.

Your Committee finds that the State continues to experience a chronic teacher shortage. However, your Committee further finds that this shortage may be more adequately addressed by extending the period for which an emergency hire may be employed to achieve the licensing requirements.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that required the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to develop an alternative pathway for a visiting international educator permit aligned to the duration of the educator's J-1 visa program;

(2) Inserting language that extends from three to five years the period for which emergency hire teachers may be employed by the Department of Education and charter schools;

(3) Requiring the Hawaii Teacher Standards Board to extend the five-year period in the case of a declared state of emergency;

(4) Establishing a goal for the University of Hawaii to double the number of newly licensed teacher graduates in the class of 2031 compared to the class of 2026, and requiring the University to submit an annual progress report to the Legislature;

(5) Requiring the Department of Education to provide training to assist emergency hire teachers in passing the Praxis examination and requiring the training to be mandatory for emergency hire teachers in their fourth and fifth years of employment as an emergency hire teacher;

(6) Updating the preamble;

(7) Inserting a sunset date of June 30, 2031; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1840, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1840, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair