HB 1659 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.

Summary

Repeals the prohibition placed on certain employees exempt from Civil Service Law from grieving a suspension or discharge. Allows any employee who is a member of an appropriate bargaining unit to grieve any disciplinary action, unless the collective bargaining agreement specifically provides otherwise. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Issues: ✓ Labor & Employment

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 20, 2026 Last action Mar 3, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

HB1659 → HB1659_HD1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was updated to reflect House District 1 amendments, changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, and adding a specific exception clause. This exception allows collective bargaining agreements to override the general rule that employees can grieve disciplinary actions, meaning employers can now contractually limit an employee's right to appeal suspensions or discharges.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed regarding employee rights; while it generally allows employees to grieve disciplinary actions, it now explicitly permits collective bargaining agreements to exclude this right if they specifically provide otherwise.

TIMELINE

The effective date of the Act was changed from 'upon approval' to 'July 1, 3000'.

REQUIREMENT

A new provision was added allowing collective bargaining agreements to specifically exclude an employee's right to grieve disciplinary actions like suspensions or discharges.

TECHNICAL

Document metadata, including author names, file references, and various numerical identifiers, were updated to reflect the House District 1 version.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 17, 2026

Committee

Reported from LAB (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 277-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to JHA.

lower

Feb 10, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on LAB recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 6 Ayes: Representative(s) Sayama, Lee, M., Garrett, Kapela, Kong, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Committee

Referred to LAB, JHA, referral sheet 1

lower

Jan 21, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 20, 2026

Introduced

Prefiled.

lower

7 primary · 0 co-sponsors