SR 145 Hawaii Senate · 2026 Regular Session

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

This bill urges the Hawaii Department of Education to add tax instruction as a major topic area within the state's existing financial literacy graduation requirement for public school students. The resolution specifically recommends that tax education cover practical skills such as completing a 1040 form, understanding W-4 forms, payroll deductions, and the differences between federal and state income taxes. As a Senate resolution, the bill does not create new legal requirements but instead formally requests the Department of Education to incorporate these tax concepts into the financial literacy standards already in place for students starting with the Class of 2030.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2026

Committee Review

Apr 2026

Senate Passage

Apr 2026

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Mar 16, 2026 Last action May 12, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SR145 → SR145_SD1 · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was updated from a Senate Resolution to a Senate Memorial Address (SD1), changing the document type and authorship details. The text was edited to improve clarity and consistency, specifically updating references from 'DOE' to 'Department of Education' and refining the description of tax literacy statistics. The resolution now explicitly urges the inclusion of taxes as a major topic in the required financial literacy graduation requirement.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on financial literacy education in Hawaii public schools, but the document type changed from a standard resolution to a memorial address.

TECHNICAL

Changed the bill type from 'SR' (Senate Resolution) to 'SMA' (Senate Memorial Address) and updated the author's name and associated codes.

Updated the template version numbers and associated metadata (such as dates and ID numbers) to reflect the new document type.

DEFINITION

Consistently replaced all instances of 'DOE' with the full name 'Department of Education' for clarity.

REQUIREMENT

Clarified the financial literacy requirement by specifying that taxes must be included as a major topic area in the graduation requirement.

Updated the list of recipients for the certified copies of the resolution to include the 'Assistant Superintendent of the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Design'.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Apr 9, 2026

Upper · Passed

Report and Resolution Adopted, as amended (SD 1).

upper

Apr 8, 2026

Upper · Passed

Reported from EDU (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3599) with recommendation of adoption, as amended (SD 1).

upper

Apr 8, 2026

Upper · Passed

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.

upper

Apr 2, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on EDU has scheduled a public hearing on 04-08-26 1:03PM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 19, 2026

Committee

Referred to EDU.

upper

Mar 16, 2026

Introduced

Offered.

upper

3 primary · 0 co-sponsors