STAND. COM. REP. NO. 704-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2294

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 Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 2294, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOL LAND TRANSFER,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to amend Act 307, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022 (Act 307), to revise tax map key numbers and the conveyance process by which identified properties are to be conveyed to the Department of Education.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System.

Your Committee finds that the primary goal of this measure is to ensure the orderly and legal transfer of fee simple title to certain lands owned by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, County of Kauai, and County of Maui to the Department of Education. Your Committee further finds that this measure provides necessary technical corrections or revisions to Tax Map Key numbers that have changed due to further verification of information, parcel consolidation or subdivision, or changes in circumstances since the passage of Act 307. Your Committee also finds that this measure eliminates ambiguity regarding the Department's authority over these parcels by specifying that these transfers are effective by operation of law as of July 1, 2022, the effective date of Act 307.

Your Committee notes that the Hawaii State Public Library System has sole responsibility of all public libraries in the State, including public and school libraries located on or adjacent to school campuses. However, the Hawaii State Public Library System is overseen by the Board of Education and State Librarian, not within the Department of Education. Accordingly, the transfers to the Department of Education of lands on which public libraries are situated are inappropriate and conflict with the separate oversight provided to the Hawaii State Public Library System.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that lands beneath public libraries are exempt from the transfer to the Department of Education and shall remain with the Department of Land and Natural Resources; and

(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to examine the parcels on which a public library is situated that should be specifically modified or excluded from the transfer to the Department of Education.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2294, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2294, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water & Land,

____________________________

MARK J. HASHEM, Chair