STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2958

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2147

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2147 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LOVE MY LIBRARY DAY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to designate the first Friday in February of each year as "Love My Library Day" in the State.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System, Department of Education, Friends of the Library of Hawaiʻi, Hoaloha Project, Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association, and eleven individuals.

Your Committees find that all libraries serve as vital community anchors that promote lifelong learning, equity, civic engagement, and the democratic ideal that access to information and culture should be freely available to all. Your Committees recognize that the Hawaii State Public Library System, which is the only statewide public library system in the nation, has been a cherished part of the State's educational and cultural fabric for over a century. This measure will honor the essential role that libraries and library workers play in strengthening state communities and highlight the need for continued public support to sustain library services for future generations.

Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2147, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2147, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts and Education,

________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair