SR145 • 2026

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ADD TAX INSTRUCTION TO ITS FINANCIAL LITERACY GRADUATION REQUIREMENT.

Education Taxes

Active

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

Sponsor: AWA, GABBARD, MCKELVEY
Last action: 2026-04-09
Official status: Report and Resolution Adopted, as amended (SD 1).
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.

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ADD TAX INSTRUCTION TO ITS FINANCIAL LITERACY GRADUATION REQUIREMENT.

What This Bill Does

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ADD TAX INSTRUCTION TO ITS FINANCIAL LITERACY GRADUATION REQUIREMENT.
DOE Financial Literacy Requirement; Curriculum; Taxes

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.

SD1

Hawaii published version SD1

Plain English: SR145 SD1 THE SENATE S.R.

SR145 SD1 THE SENATE S.R.
NO.
145 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026 S.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII SENATE RESOLUTION URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ADD TAX INSTRUCTION TO ITS FINANCIAL LITERACY GRADUATION REQUIREMENT .

Bill History

2026-04-09 S
Report and Resolution Adopted, as amended (SD 1).
2026-04-08 S
One Day Notice 04-09-26.
2026-04-08 S
Reported from EDU (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3599) with recommendation of adoption, as amended (SD 1).
2026-04-08 S
The committee(s) on EDU recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in EDU were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Kim, Kidani, Fukunaga, Hashimoto, DeCorte; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.
2026-04-02 S
The committee(s) on EDU has scheduled a public hearing on 04-08-26 1:03PM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.
2026-03-19 S
Referred to EDU.
2026-03-16 S
Offered.

Official Summary Text

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ADD TAX INSTRUCTION TO ITS FINANCIAL LITERACY GRADUATION REQUIREMENT.
DOE Financial Literacy Requirement; Curriculum; Taxes

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

SR145

THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

145

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026

STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ADD TAX INSTRUCTION
TO ITS FINANCIAL LITERACY GRADUATION REQUIREMENT.

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WHEREAS, as
the old adage by Benjamin Franklin states "in this world nothing is
certain, except death and taxes"; and

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WHEREAS, according
to the Tax Foundation's 2024 National Tax Literacy Poll, the majority of
respondents did not know or were not sure of basic tax concepts related to
income tax filing, with one only two per cent classified as
"proficient" in tax literacy; and

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WHEREAS, more
than half of US states have mandated or are in the process of implementing
financial literacy education requirements in high schools; and

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WHEREAS, starting
with the Class of 2030, all Hawaii public school students will be required to
complete a financial literacy educational opportunity; and

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WHEREAS, schools
may meet this requirement through a variety of instructional approaches,
including a standalone elective course, integration into existing courses,
self-paced learning options, or other instructional designs that align with the
DOE's financial literacy program standards; and

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WHEREAS, the
standards developed by the DOE's Office of Curriculum and Instructional Design
are based on the 2021 National Standards for Personal Finance Education from
the Council for Economic Education and the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal
Financial Literacy; and

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WHEREAS, the
six major topic areas will include earning income, spending, saving, investing,
managing credit, and managing risk; and

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WHEREAS, as
all students will one day be responsible for filing taxes, the only way to
truly give students a holistic understanding of finances would be to include this
subject as a major topic area as well; now, therefore,

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BE IT
RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii,
Regular Session of 2026, that the Hawaii State Department of Education is urged
to include taxes as a major topic area as part of the financial literacy
graduation requirement; and

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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that tax instruction should include, but not be limited to, how to
complete a 1040 form, understanding W-4 forms, payroll deductions, federal
versus state income taxes, sales and property taxes, and tax brackets; and

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BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the
Superintendent of the Hawaii State Department of Education, members of the
Board of Education, and the DOE Office of Curriculum and Instructional Design.

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:
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DOE
Financial Literacy Requirement; Curriculum; Taxes