HB 1967 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO PERMITTING.

Summary

Implements certain recommendations of the SPEED Task Force. Requires the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to develop a permitting workforce pipeline in partnership with the University of Hawaii and community colleges and coordinate with state and county permitting agencies on certain tasks related to classification levels, salary and benefits, hiring, and responsibilities of employees. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Mar 2026

House Passage

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 23, 2026 Last action Mar 10, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

HB1967 → HB1967_HD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended to explicitly appropriate funds for the department to create a permitting workforce pipeline, clarifying that the pipeline should utilize existing academic programs. The effective date of the legislation was changed from July 1, 2026, to July 1, 3000, likely as a placeholder or error during the drafting process.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include the appropriation of funds for workforce development, and the timeline for implementation was drastically altered to the year 3000.

FISCAL

The purpose of the Act was changed to explicitly require and appropriate funds for the department of business, economic development, and tourism to support the permitting workforce pipeline.

REQUIREMENT

The requirement for the workforce pipeline was modified to specify that it must utilize existing academic programs to support the recruitment of new employees.

TIMELINE

The effective date of the Act was changed from July 1, 2026, to July 1, 3000.

TECHNICAL

Minor formatting and text cleanup changes were made throughout the document, including adjusting section references and removing redundant lines.

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

Mar 10, 2026

Committee

Referred to EDT/EDU, WAM.

upper

Mar 6, 2026

Introduced

Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 66).

upper

Mar 5, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Perruso excused (1). Transmitted to Senate.

lower

Mar 2, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 16 Ayes: Representative(s) Todd, Takenouchi, Hartsfield, Hussey, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Kitagawa, Kusch, Lee, M., Miyake, Morikawa, Perruso, Templo, Yamashita, Alcos, Gedeon, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and Excused: none.

lower

Feb 18, 2026

Lower · Passed

Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0).

lower

Feb 18, 2026

Committee

Reported from HED (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 404-26), recommending referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on HED recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Garrett, Amato, Evslin, Kapela, La Chica, Olds, Woodson, Muraoka, Souza; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Kila.

lower

Feb 11, 2026

Committee

Reported from ECD (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 144-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to HED.

lower

Feb 4, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on ECD recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 7 Ayes: Representative(s) Ilagan, Hussey, Holt, Tam, Templo, Yamashita, Gedeon; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and Excused: none.

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Committee

Referred to ECD, HED, FIN, referral sheet 3

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 23, 2026

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

17 primary · 0 co-sponsors