HB2397 • 2026

RELATING TO SCHOOL FACILITIES.

Budget Education

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor: WOODSON, ALCOS, AMATO, GARRETT, KEOHOKAPU-LEE LOY, KILA, KUSCH, MARTEN, PIERICK, POEPOE, REYES ODA, TARNAS
Last action: 2026-03-30
Official status: Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM.
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

RELATING TO SCHOOL FACILITIES.

What This Bill Does

RELATING TO SCHOOL FACILITIES.
Pre-Kindergarten; Charter Schools; Capacity; School Impact Fees; School Facilities Special Fund; Transfer; Appropriation ($) Transfers school impact fees from the Kalihi-Ala Moana school impact district to the School Impact Fees subaccount of the School Facilities Special Fund for the acquisition and renovation of one or more buildings, or the acquisition of land and construction of a new building, in the 96813 zip code to develop and expand pre-kindergarten and charter school capacity.
Provides that the funds appropriated and expended shall be used to serve students residing within the Kalihi-Ala Moana school impact district, with certain exceptions.
Effective 7/1/3000.

Limits and Unknowns

This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HD1

Hawaii published version HD1

Plain English: HB2397 HD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.

HB2397 HD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.
NO.
2397 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026 H.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SCHOOL FACILITIES .

HD2

Hawaii published version HD2

Plain English: HB2397 HD2 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.

HB2397 HD2 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.
NO.
2397 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026 H.D.
2 STATE OF HAWAII A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SCHOOL FACILITIES .

SD1

Hawaii published version SD1

Plain English: HB2397 SD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.

HB2397 SD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.
NO.
2397 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026 H.D.
2 STATE OF HAWAII S.D.

Bill History

2026-03-30 S
Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM.
2026-03-30 S
Reported from HOU/EDU (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3233) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.
2026-03-17 S
The committee(s) on HOU recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in HOU were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Chang, Hashimoto, Elefante; Aye(s) with reservations: Senator(s) Rhoads ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Fevella.
2026-03-17 S
The committee(s) on EDU recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in EDU were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Kim, Kidani, Hashimoto, DeCorte; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Fukunaga.
2026-03-13 S
The committee(s) on HOU/EDU has scheduled a public hearing on 03-17-26 1:00PM; Conference Room 225 & Videoconference.
2026-03-12 S
Referred to HOU/EDU, WAM.
2026-03-12 S
Passed First Reading.
2026-03-12 S
Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 410).
2026-03-10 H
Passed Third Reading as amended in HD 2 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Kong, Pierick excused (2). Transmitted to Senate.
2026-03-06 H
Forty-eight (48) hours notice Tuesday, 03-10-26.
2026-03-06 H
Reported from FIN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1033-26) as amended in HD 2, recommending passage on Third Reading.
2026-03-04 H
The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 16 Ayes: Representative(s) Todd, Takenouchi, Hartsfield, Hussey, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Kitagawa, Kusch, Lee, M., Miyake, Morikawa, Perruso, Templo, Yamashita, Alcos, Gedeon, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and Excused: none.
2026-03-02 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by FIN on Wednesday, 03-04-26 10:00AM in House conference room 308 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-02-19 H
Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0).
2026-02-19 H
Reported from EDN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 520-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.
2026-02-17 H
The committee on EDN recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Woodson, La Chica, Amato, Evslin, Kapela, Kila, Olds, Muraoka, Souza; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Garrett.
2026-02-13 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by EDN on Tuesday, 02-17-26 2:00PM in House conference room 309 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-02-02 H
Referred to EDN, FIN, referral sheet 6
2026-01-28 H
Introduced and Pass First Reading.
2026-01-27 H
Pending introduction.

Official Summary Text

RELATING TO SCHOOL FACILITIES.
Pre-Kindergarten; Charter Schools; Capacity; School Impact Fees; School Facilities Special Fund; Transfer; Appropriation ($)
Transfers school impact fees from the Kalihi-Ala Moana school impact district to the School Impact Fees subaccount of the School Facilities Special Fund for the acquisition and renovation of one or more buildings, or the acquisition of land and construction of a new building, in the 96813 zip code to develop and expand pre-kindergarten and charter school capacity. Provides that the funds appropriated and expended shall be used to serve students residing within the Kalihi-Ala Moana school impact district, with certain exceptions. Effective 7/1/3000. (SD1)

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

HB2397

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2397

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating
to school facilities
.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

����
SECTION
1.
�
The legislature finds that the State
faces a critical shortage of early learning facilities and permanent space for
public charter schools.
�
The downtown
Honolulu area, in particular, has been identified as a high-need region for
expanded pre-kindergarten capacity, yet available and appropriate space for new
facilities remains limited.
�
The
acquisition and renovation of an existing building represents a practical
solution to expanding pre-kindergarten capacity in the downtown Honolulu area.
�
Because a building suitable for this purpose
is likely to contain more space than required for a pre-kindergarten center
alone, collocating a public charter school within the same facility allows for
the efficient use of space and addresses multiple facility needs.

����
The
legislature further finds that the school impact fee program was established to
ensure that new residential development contributes to the public
infrastructure it necessitates.
�
However,
school impact fees have largely remained unexpended.
�
The expansion of pre-kindergarten and public
charter school capacity constitutes an appropriate and consistent use of these
funds.

����
Accordingly,
the purpose of this Act is to transfer school impact fees from the Kalihi-Ala
Moana school impact district to the school impact fees subaccount of the school
facilities special fund for the acquisition and renovation of one or more
buildings in the downtown Honolulu area to develop and expand pre-kindergarten
and charter school capacity.

����
SECTION 2.
�
Notwithstanding
any other law to the contrary, there is transferred out from the school impact
fees in EDN 400 for the Kalihi-Ala Moana school impact district the sum of
$15,237,019 to deposit into
the school impact fees subaccount of the school facilities
special fund
.

����
SECTION
3.
�
There is appropriated out of the school
impact fees subaccount of the school facilities special fund the sum of
$15,237,019 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 to
acquire and renovate
one or more buildings in the downtown
Honolulu area to develop and expand pre-kindergarten and charter school
capacity.

����
The sum
appropriated shall be expended by the school facilities authority for the
purposes of this Act.

����
SECTION 4.
�
This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2026.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Pre-kindergarten;
Charter Schools; Capacity; School Impact Fees; School Facilities Special Fund;
Transfer; Appropriation

Description:

Transfers
school impact fees from the Kalihi-Ala Moana school impact district to the S
chool
Impact Fees subaccount of the School Facilities Special Fund
for the acquisition and renovation
of one or more buildings in the downtown Honolulu area to develop and expand
pre-kindergarten and charter school capacity.

The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.