STAND. COM. REP. NO. 489-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2345

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. 2345 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SCHOOL FACILITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require the School Facilities Authority to establish geographically based capital improvement project districts for the localized management of deferred maintenance;

(2) Transfer vacant Facilities Development Branch positions from the Department of Education to the School Facilities Authority; and

(3) Transfer all functions, duties, and funds related to deferred maintenance from the Department of Education to the School Facilities Authority.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks! and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Education and United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General; School Facilities Authority; and Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO.

Your Committee finds the management of school capital improvement projects through a centralized system within the Department of Education has contributed to a substantial backlog of deferred maintenance. This structure has resulted in delays, reduced responsiveness to the needs of individual school communities, and challenges in managing project timelines and budgets. Your Committee further finds that a decentralized, district‑based model for managing deferred maintenance projects, to be housed within the School Facilities Authority, will improve efficiency, accountability, and responsiveness. The localized management of deferred maintenance within geographically based districts will allow decisions to be made closer to the schools they affect and provide a phased framework for the Authority to assume broader capital improvement responsibilities in the future.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a definition of "deferred maintenance";

(2) Deleting language that would have transferred all appropriations, items of appropriation, and unexpended balances of funds designated for facilities development within the Department of Education to the School Facilities Authority;

(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000; and

(4) 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 Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2345, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2345, 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