SB 559 Hawaii Senate · 2025 Regular Session

PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE I OF THE HAWAII STATE CONSTITUTION TO RECOGNIZE AND PROTECT THE INHERENT AND INALIENABLE RIGHT OF ALL PEOPLE TO CLEAN WATER AND AIR, A HEALTHFUL ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE, HEALTHY NATIVE ECOSYSTEMS, AND BEACHES.

Summary

Proposes a constitutional amendment to ensure that the inherent and inalienable right of the people, including future generations, to clean water and air, a healthful environment and climate, healthy native ecosystems, and beaches, shall be protected and shall not be infringed. (SD1)

Issues: ✓ Environment

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 17, 2025 Last action Feb 5, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SB559 → SB559_SD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill text was reformatted from a traditional legislative document to a structured data format with metadata headers, while the substantive policy content of the environmental rights amendment remained largely unchanged. The core constitutional amendment establishing rights to clean water, air, and healthy ecosystems was preserved with minor text corrections.

Scope change

No substantive change to the bill's scope or applicability; changes are primarily formatting and metadata additions.

TECHNICAL

Metadata headers including bill ID, dates, and technical identifiers were added at the beginning of the document.

The document structure changed from traditional legislative formatting to a structured data format with metadata fields.

Minor text corrections were made, such as fixing typos in the bill title and ensuring consistent formatting throughout the document.

Legacy formatting elements like page headers and document metadata were removed in favor of a cleaner structured format.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 5, 2025

Committee

Reported from AEN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 42) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to JDC/WAM.

upper

Jan 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on AEN recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in AEN were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Gabbard, DeCoite, Rhoads, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: Senator(s) Richards ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.

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 21, 2025

Committee

Referred to AEN, JDC/WAM.

upper

Jan 17, 2025

Introduced

Introduced.

upper

2 primary · 0 co-sponsors