HB 1951 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO BIOSECURITY.

Summary

Requires the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience to establish a Center on Biosecurity Research, Education, and Extension to develop and implement innovative solutions for detecting, monitoring, eradicating, and managing invasive species. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD2)

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

House Passage

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 23, 2026 Last action Feb 20, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB1951_HD1 → HB1951_HD2 · 6 edits

MODERATE

The bill was updated from House Draft 1 to House Draft 2, primarily changing the bill title and sponsor information. The core policy regarding the establishment of a biosecurity center remains the same, though minor wording adjustments were made to the list of specific tasks the center will perform. The funding amount and allocation details were also updated to reflect the new draft version.

Scope change

The scope of the bill's requirements remains unchanged; it still mandates the creation of a biosecurity center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to manage invasive species.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill header to reflect the new House Draft 2 version, including changes to the sponsor's name and internal tracking numbers.

Adjusted the specific tasks listed for the biosecurity center, changing 'Developing' to 'Develop' and clarifying the collaboration with experts across the University of Hawaii system.

Refined the description of chemical control options, changing 'IR-4 program' to 'IR-4 project' and 'register them' to 'register the options'.

Simplified the list of staff positions to be hired, removing the specific mention of a 'technical laboratory technician' role from the detailed breakdown.

Changed the center's name from 'Center for Biosecurity...' to 'Center on Biosecurity...' in the report title and summary description.

Updated the draft identifier in the final summary from '(HD1)' to '(HD2)'.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the House by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 20, 2026

Lower · Passed

Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN as amended in HD 2 with none voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Pierick voting no (1) and Representative(s) Quinlan excused (1).

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Committee

Reported from AGR (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 591-26) as amended in HD 2, recommending referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 18, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on AGR recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 7 Ayes: Representative(s) Chun, Kusch, Kahaloa, Lowen, Perruso, Quinlan, Matsumoto; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.

lower

Feb 9, 2026

Committee

Reported from HED (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 124-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to AGR.

lower

Feb 4, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on HED recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 10 Ayes: Representative(s) Garrett, Amato, Evslin, Kapela, Kila, La Chica, Olds, Woodson, Muraoka, Souza; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Committee

Referred to HED, AGR, FIN, referral sheet 3

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 23, 2026

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

6 primary · 0 co-sponsors