Allows the Department of Education and charter schools to hire unlicensed individuals as teachers on an emergency basis for five, rather than three, years. Requires that unlicensed teachers hired on an emergency basis make continuous and verifiable progress toward satisfying licensing requirements. Sunsets on 6/30/2031, but provides that unlicensed emergency hires employed before the sunset date may continue employment for up to five years from their hiring date, under certain conditions. (CD1)
Hawaii SB 2125 (2026) — RELATING TO TEACHER LICENSING.
Allows the Department of Education and charter schools to hire unlicensed individuals as teachers on an emergency basis for five, rather than three, years. Requires that unlicensed teachers hired on an emergency basis make continuous and verifiable progress toward satisfying licensing requirements. Sunsets on 6/30/2031, but provides that unlicensed emergency hires employed before the sunset date may continue employment for up to five years from their hiring date, under certain conditions. (CD1)
Version chain
The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.
2026-05-08 Enrolled to Governor. executive-receipt
2026-05-08 Received notice of passage on Final Reading in House (Hse. Com. No. 888). receipt
2026-05-06 Received notice of Final Reading (Sen. Com. No. 816). receipt
2026-05-06 Passed Final Reading as amended in CD 1 with Representative(s) Garcia, Reyes Oda voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Belatti, Garrett, Iwamoto, Perruso voting no (4) and Representative(s) Alcos excused (1). passage
2026-05-06 Passed Final Reading, as amended (CD 1). Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none . 0 No(es): none. 0 Excused: none. passage
2026-05-01 Reported from Conference Committee (Conf Com. Rep. No. 208-26) as amended in (CD 1).
2026-05-01 48 Hrs. Notice (as amended CD 1) 05-06-26.
2026-05-01 Reported from Conference Committee as amended CD 1 (Conf. Com. Rep. No. 208-26).
2026-05-01 The Conference Committee recommends that the measure be Passed, with Amendments. The votes were as follows: 5 Ayes: Representative(s) Woodson, Lee, M., La Chica, Olds, Muraoka; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Sayama.
2026-05-01 The Conference committee recommends that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes of the Senate Conference Managers were as follows: 2 Aye(s): Senator(s) Kim, Hashimoto; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) DeCorte. committee-passage-favorable
2026-05-01 Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Friday 05-01-26 4:00PM in conference room 229.
2026-04-30 Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Friday 05-01-26 1:30PM in conference room 229.
2026-04-29 Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 874). receipt
2026-04-28 House Conferees Appointed: Woodson, Sayama, Lee, M. Co-Chairs; La Chica, Olds, Muraoka.
2026-04-20 Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 714). receipt
2026-04-20 Senate Conferees Appointed: Kim Chair; Hashimoto, DeCorte.
2026-04-16 Received notice of disagreement (Sen. Com. No. 710). receipt
2026-04-16 Senate disagrees with House amendments. amendment-failure
2026-04-16 Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 627). introduction, receipt
2026-04-14 Passed Third Reading as amended in HD 2 with Representative(s) Garcia, Matsumoto, Poepoe voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Alcos, Garrett, Iwamoto, Muraoka, Perruso voting no (5) and Representative(s) Quinlan excused (1). Transmitted to Senate. passage
2026-04-10 Reported from FIN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2107-26) as amended in HD 2, recommending passage on Third Reading.
2026-04-08 The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 15 Ayes: Representative(s) Todd, Takenouchi, Hartsfield, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Kitagawa, Kusch, Lee, M., Miyake, Morikawa, Templo, Yamashita, Gedeon, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Perruso, Alcos; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Hussey. committee-passage-favorable
2026-04-07 Bill scheduled for decision making on Wednesday, 04-08-26 1:57PM in conference room 308 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-04-07 The committee(s) on FIN recommend(s) that the measure be deferred until 04-08-26. deferral
2026-04-02 Bill scheduled to be heard by FIN on Tuesday, 04-07-26 2:00PM in House conference room 308 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-03-30 Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with Representative(s) Garcia voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cochran, Lowen, Perruso, Quinlan excused (4).
2026-03-30 Reported from LAB (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1463-26), recommending referral to FIN.
2026-03-24 The committee on LAB recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 6 Ayes: Representative(s) Sayama, Lee, M., Garrett, Kapela, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Kong; Noes: none; and Excused: none. committee-passage-favorable
2026-03-20 Bill scheduled to be heard by LAB on Tuesday, 03-24-26 9:30AM in House conference room 309 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-03-20 Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on LAB with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Quinlan excused (1). reading-2, referral-committee
2026-03-20 Reported from EDN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1289-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to LAB.
2026-03-19 The committee on EDN recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 10 Ayes: Representative(s) Woodson, La Chica, Amato, Evslin, Garrett, Kapela, Kila, Olds, Souza; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Muraoka; Noes: none; and Excused: none. committee-passage-favorable
2026-03-17 Bill scheduled to be heard by EDN on Thursday, 03-19-26 2:00PM in House conference room 309 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-03-10 Referred to EDN, LAB, FIN, referral sheet 15 referral-committee
2026-03-05 Pass First Reading reading-1
2026-02-25 Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 15) in amended form (SD 1). introduction, receipt
2026-02-25 Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). Ayes, 24; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 1 (Senator(s) Kidani). Transmitted to House. passage
2026-02-23 48 Hrs. Notice 02-25-26.
2026-02-23 Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1). reading-2, referral-committee
2026-02-23 Reported from EDU (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2705) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and placement on the calendar for Third Reading.
2026-02-05 Re-Referred to EDU. referral-committee
2026-02-04 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. committee-passage-favorable
2026-01-30 The committee(s) on EDU has scheduled a public hearing on 02-04-26 1:00PM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.
2026-01-22 Referred to EDU, WAM. referral-committee
2026-01-21 Introduced and passed First Reading. introduction
2026-01-14 Pending Introduction.
Source
OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/eea1a8d6-b80b-476e-8ad0-cb4e1df95436. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Hawaii legislature records).