S.B. 2862 Summary

• Appropriates $10,000,000 from general revenues for fiscal year 2022-2023 to install air conditioning in Hawaii public school classrooms that lack air conditioning or heat abatement measures

• Directs the Department of Education to expend funds for classroom air conditioning installation

• Takes effect on July 1, 2022

• Finds that classroom temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees in Hawaii schools, causing student drowsiness, irritability, headaches, and heat-related illness, with temperatures over 80 degrees negatively impacting student achievement

• Notes that while a prior $100,000,000 appropriation (Act 47, 2016) funded heat abatement upgrades for over 1,300 classrooms, approximately 5,000 additional classrooms still require improvements