HB 981 Hawaii House · 2025 Regular Session

RELATING TO ATTORNEYS' FEES.

Summary

Limits the accrued attorneys' fees and costs in matters relating to, or actions brought as a result of, construction defects to twenty-five per cent of the recovery amount. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 21, 2025 Last action Feb 19, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

HB981 → HB981_HD1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was revised from its House version (HB981) to the House Committee version (HB981_HD1). The most significant change is the addition of Section 3, which adds a new requirement for courts to limit attorney's fees in construction defect lawsuits to 25% of the recovery amount, complementing the existing 25% cap on settlement agreements in Section 2. The effective date was changed from immediate approval to July 1, 3000, likely a placeholder. Several formatting and metadata lines were also added or removed during the markup process.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded by adding a new provision that applies to court-awarded attorney's fees in construction defect litigation, whereas the original version only addressed settlement agreements.

REQUIREMENT

Added Section 3 requiring courts to limit attorney's fees in construction defect lawsuits to 25% of the recovery amount.

TIMELINE

Changed the effective date from upon approval to July 1, 3000.

TECHNICAL

Added metadata and formatting lines related to bill tracking and document properties.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 11, 2025

Committee

Reported from CPC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 429) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to JHA.

lower

Feb 5, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on CPC recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 10 Ayes: Representative(s) Matayoshi, Chun, Ilagan, Ichiyama, Iwamoto, Kong, Lowen, Marten, Tam, Pierick; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.

lower

Jan 23, 2025

Committee

Referred to CPC, JHA, referral sheet 3

lower

Jan 23, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

4 primary · 0 co-sponsors