HB 2292 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO THE HAWAII EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY.

Summary

Authorizes the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to convert temporary special project positions created for Federal Emergency Management Agency funded disaster recovery operations into permanent positions exempt from civil service, subject to certain limitations. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD2)

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

House Passage

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 26, 2026 Last action Feb 20, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB2292_HD1 → HB2292_HD2 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was renumbered from HD1 to HD2 and significantly expanded its scope. While the original version focused narrowly on converting temporary FEMA-funded positions to permanent civil-service-exempt roles, the new version creates a broad list of over 40 specific positions across various state agencies (including education, health, and law enforcement) that are exempt from civil service. It also added a requirement for an annual report on these exempt positions and set a future date for converting some positions to civil service.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from a specific focus on the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency's temporary positions to a comprehensive list of exempt positions across multiple state departments.

SCOPE

The bill's focus shifted from exclusively addressing temporary FEMA-funded positions to establishing a wide array of permanent civil-service-exempt positions across many different state agencies.

REQUIREMENT

A new requirement was added for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to submit an annual report to the legislature detailing all exempt positions and justifications for their status.

TIMELINE

A new provision mandates that at least 30% of the special project positions must be transitioned to civil service by July 1, 2031.

ELIGIBILITY

The list of eligible positions for civil service exemption was substantially expanded to include specific roles in education, health services, law enforcement, and other areas beyond just emergency management.

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; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Quinlan excused (1).

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Committee

Reported from LAB (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 626-26) as amended in HD 2, recommending referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 17, 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; Noes: none; and Excused: none.

lower

Feb 12, 2026

Committee

Reported from PBS (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 225-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to LAB.

lower

Feb 11, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on PBS recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Belatti, Hashem, Ichiyama, Morikawa, Poepoe, Woodson, Shimizu, Souza; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Iwamoto; Noes: none; and Excused: none.

lower

Jan 30, 2026

Committee

Referred to PBS, LAB, FIN, referral sheet 5

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors