SB 245 Hawaii Senate · 2025 Regular Session

RELATING TO OWNERSHIP OF AGRICULTURAL LAND.

SB 245 prohibits certain entities from owning, purchasing, or acquiring agricultural land starting January 1, 2026. It directly affects entities seeking to buy or hold agricultural property, though the specific entities targeted are not named in the provided abstract. The bill creates a new restriction on land ownership transactions for agricultural properties, effective in 2026. The measure is currently under review by the Agriculture and Natural Resources committee, with a public hearing scheduled for January 27, 2025.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 13, 2025 Last action Feb 10, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SB245 → SB245_SD1_PROPOSED · 6 edits

MODERATE

The bill was reformatted from a standard Senate bill format to a proposed Senate District 1 amendment, with significant substantive changes to the agricultural land ownership restrictions. The original version broadly prohibited corporations and other entities from owning agricultural land, while the proposed version adds specific exemptions for entities with Hawaii resident majorities and active farming operations, clarifies definitions, and establishes a five-year transition period for compliance.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed by adding exemptions for entities with majority Hawaii resident ownership and active farming operations, and by clarifying that the restrictions apply equally to in-state and out-of-state entities while exempting certain nonprofit organizations.

DEFINITION

Added new definitions for 'exempt entity', 'prohibited entity', and 'resident' to clarify who is subject to restrictions.

ELIGIBILITY

Added exemptions for entities where majority ownership consists of Hawaii residents actively engaged in farming, with limits on the number of shareholders.

TIMELINE

Established a five-year transition period for prohibited entities to divest agricultural land or restructure operations to meet exemption criteria.

ENFORCEMENT

Added enforcement provisions requiring the Department of Agriculture to oversee divestiture and adopt rules for compliance, with fines of at least $50,000 per year for violations.

REQUIREMENT

Added annual reporting requirements for exempt entities to demonstrate continued compliance with the chapter.

TECHNICAL

Removed original page headers and formatting elements, replacing them with proposed amendment markup.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 7, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on AEN has scheduled a public hearing on 02-10-25 1:01PM; Conference Room 224 & Videoconference.

upper

Jan 24, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on AEN has scheduled a public hearing on 01-27-25 1:00PM; Conference Room 224 & Videoconference.

upper

Jan 17, 2025

Committee

Referred to AEN, JDC/WAM.

upper

Jan 15, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and passed First Reading.

upper

Jan 13, 2025

Introduced

Pending Introduction.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors