STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1293-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: S.B. No. 2614

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 S.B. No. 2614 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the Department of Education to award a high school diploma to qualified persons who did not receive a high school diploma as a result of compulsory or voluntary induction into the Armed Services of the United States or whose high school education was interrupted due to wartime practices during World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the United States Department of Defense; Department of Education; Hawaii Military Affairs Council; and one individual.

Your Committee finds that mandatory enlistment in the United States Armed Services and other wartime practices led many individuals to delay or abandon their educational pursuits, ultimately resulting in them not obtaining a high school diploma. Your Committee further finds that granting the Department of Education the authority to award high school diplomas to these individuals enables the State to properly acknowledge and thank them for their sacrifices during wartime.

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 S.B. No. 2614, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2614, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Public Safety.

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

____________________________

JUSTIN H. WOODSON, Chair