HB 1857 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO HEALTH CARE.

Summary

Establishes a broad definition of "qualified health care provider" in numerous areas of existing law. Clarifies and standardizes references to specific health care providers. Updates outdated language to reflect correct terminology. Makes numerous clarifying and conforming amendments to support these changes, including but not limited to chapters related to health, education, insurance, professions and vocations, the pain patient's bill of rights, the Uniform Probate Code, minors, the Child Protective Act, and the Penal Code. Repeals the obsolete Hawaii Health Corps. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 23, 2026 Last action Feb 11, 2026

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What changed between versions

HB1857 → HB1857_HD1 · 3 edits

MINOR

This bill revision standardizes the term 'qualified health care provider' across multiple statutes to ensure consistent application of scope-of-practice rules. It clarifies that new license categories are automatically included in this definition, preventing the need for repetitive legislative amendments. The changes also update specific references in sections regarding blood testing, HIV testing, and medical exemptions to align with this standardized terminology.

Scope change

The bill's scope broadens by explicitly ensuring that any newly created health care license categories are automatically covered under the 'qualified health care provider' definition, eliminating previous gaps where new professions might be inadvertently restricted.

DEFINITION

Updated the definition of 'qualified health care provider' to include all newly established license categories automatically, removing the need for separate legislative action to include new professions.

REQUIREMENT

Replaced specific references to 'physician' or 'physician assistant' with the broader term 'qualified health care provider' in sections governing blood specimen collection, HIV testing, and medical exemptions.

TECHNICAL

Corrected minor formatting inconsistencies and standardized capitalization in the bill's title and section headers.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 11, 2026

Committee

Reported from HLT (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 161-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to CPC.

lower

Feb 6, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on HLT recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Takayama, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Amato, Hartsfield, Marten, Olds, Takenouchi, Alcos, Garcia; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and Excused: none.

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Committee

Referred to HLT, CPC, JHA, referral sheet 2

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 23, 2026

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

23 primary · 0 co-sponsors