HB 2362 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO HOUSING.

HB 2362 requires counties to automatically approve building permits for hurricane retrofitting projects when specific safety and structural conditions are met. This directly affects homeowners seeking to strengthen their properties against storms and county permitting offices responsible for processing applications. The key provision eliminates discretionary review for eligible retrofitting work, streamlining approvals to accelerate safety upgrades. The bill aims to reduce delays in making homes more resilient to hurricane damage without altering building codes or adding new requirements.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

House Passage

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 27, 2026 Last action Feb 20, 2026

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What changed between versions

HB2362 → HB2362_HD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was updated to reflect House District 1 sponsorship and revised the effective date to July 1, 3000. Substantive changes include clarifying that contractors must meet eligibility requirements defined by the county rather than listing specific criteria, and expanding the scope of prohibited violations to include county regulations.

Scope change

The bill's scope was slightly narrowed by removing specific contractor eligibility criteria (such as specific certifications and disciplinary record checks) and deferring those requirements to county-level rules.

TIMELINE

The effective date of the Act was changed from 'upon approval' to 'July 1, 3000'.

ELIGIBILITY

Specific contractor eligibility requirements were removed and replaced with a mandate for contractors to meet requirements established by the county.

ENFORCEMENT

The prohibition against violating laws was expanded to explicitly include county regulations in addition to federal and state laws.

TECHNICAL

Minor formatting and capitalization adjustments were made to the title and section headers.

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 JHA with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Quinlan excused (1).

lower

Feb 20, 2026

Committee

Reported from WAL (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 700-26), recommending referral to JHA.

lower

Feb 19, 2026

Lower · Passed

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

lower

Feb 11, 2026

Committee

Reported from HSG (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 138-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to WAL.

lower

Feb 6, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on HSG recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 8 Ayes: Representative(s) Evslin, Miyake, Cochran, Grandinetti, Kila, Kitagawa, Muraoka, Pierick; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) La Chica.

lower

Feb 2, 2026

Committee

Referred to HSG, WAL, JHA, referral sheet 6

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 27, 2026

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

12 primary · 0 co-sponsors