STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3387

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2172

H.D. 2

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 H.B. No. 2172, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT OF RETIRANTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a five-year pilot program to authorize the Department of Education to rehire retired teachers and educational officers for hard-to-staff positions.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement System.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Education and Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that the State is experiencing a critical shortage of qualified educators, particularly in specialized subject areas and hard-to-staff geographic regions. As an experienced pool of local talent, retirants represent a practical option to address this shortage and provide students with consistent, high-quality instruction. This measure will create a practical pathway to leverage the expertise of retired educators to increase stability in school environments.

Your Committee acknowledges the concerns raised in testimony by the Department of the Attorney General that the good-faith recruitment effort that this measure requires the Department of Education to conduct before hiring a retirant should incorporate more objective standards to reduce discretion and clarify compliance with federal tax requirements. Therefore, amendments to this measure are necessary to address these matters.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the Department of Education to conduct two career fairs and, within a sixty-day period, actively advertise a position as part of a good-faith recruitment effort before employing or reemploying a retirant;

(2) Specifying that the Department of Education shall advertise a position for a minimum period specified pursuant to the Department's standard recruitment efforts before employing or reemploying a retirant;

(3) Deleting language that would have allowed positions eligible for another differential of an annual amount of $3,000 or more as established by the Department of Education to employ a retirant under this measure;

(4) Inserting language specifying that retirants hired pursuant to this measure after June 30, 2026, shall be:

(A) Paid the entry level salary for the teacher or administrator position as negotiated in the collective bargaining unit contract for that position; and

(B) Ineligible for additional employment benefits typically afforded to active employees pursuant to public service law;

(5) Clarifying that no retirant employed pursuant to this measure shall have entered into an agreement with the State or a county prior to the retirement of the retirant, for the return to work by the retirant after retirement;

(6) Deleting language that would have required the Department of Education to contribute the required percentage of compensation to amortize the Employees' Retirement System's unfunded actuarial liability;

(7) Deleting language that would have required each employer of a retirant hired pursuant to this measure to contribute to the pension accumulation fund the required percentage of the rehired retirant's compensation to amortize the Employees' Retirement System's unfunded actuarial accrued liability;

(8) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

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

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. 2172, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2172, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair