STAND. COM. REP. NO. 518-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2004

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 2004 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Extend the Librarian Pilot Program established by Act 135, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025, through 2030; and

(2) Authorize the Department of Education to select a second school complex on Oahu to be part of the Librarian Pilot Program if no appropriate school complex on the neighbor islands can be identified.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education; Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association; and four individuals. Your Committee received testimony in support of the intent of this measure from the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that school librarians are an invaluable resource for educational communities, serving students, faculty, and staff with a safe place to develop literacy skills, achieve reading fluency, and conduct research. Extending the Librarian Pilot Program and giving the Department of Education more flexibility in determining participation in the Pilot Program will help bolster library services in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 3000.

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 H.B. No. 2004, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2004, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

JUSTIN H. WOODSON, Chair