HB 1996 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO HEARING AIDS.

Summary

Exempts from the general excise tax, gross receipts from the sale of hearing aids received by a hospital, infirmary, medical clinic, health care facility, pharmacy, or a practitioner licensed to administer drugs to an individual. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

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 18, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

HB1996 → HB1996_HD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was updated to reflect House Draft 1 changes, primarily removing the original author and sunset provisions while replacing them with a new effective date of July 1, 3000. A technical amendment was also made to the definition of 'interstate air transportation' to align it with the official United States Code title structure.

Scope change

The bill's scope regarding the tax exemption for hearing aids remains unchanged, but the timeline for its application has been extended indefinitely by removing the 2028 repeal date.

TIMELINE

Removed the provision that would have repealed the hearing aid tax exemption on January 1, 2028.

Added a new effective date of July 1, 3000, making the tax exemption permanent rather than temporary.

DEFINITION

Updated the definition of 'interstate air transportation' to explicitly include the word 'United' before 'States Code'.

TECHNICAL

Removed the original bill author (Joseph Brown) and replaced it with the House Draft 1 author (Michael Ganoot).

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 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 ECD (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 414-26), recommending referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 13, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on ECD recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. 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

Feb 6, 2026

Committee

Reported from HLT (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 50-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to ECD.

lower

Feb 4, 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 28, 2026

Committee

Referred to HLT, ECD, FIN, referral sheet 3

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 23, 2026

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

7 primary · 1 co-sponsor