HB 2480 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO EMERGENCY RESPONSE.

Summary

Protects emergency responders from liability during periods of evacuation. Provides that individuals who wilfully fail to comply with predictive evacuation orders assume the risk and waive liability. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 28, 2026 Last action Feb 25, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

HB2480 → HB2480_HD1 · 3 edits

MINOR

This bill revision updates the authorship and metadata details, such as the sponsor's name and effective date, while making minor text corrections to terms like 'wilful' to 'willful'. The core policy content regarding emergency responder immunity and public liability remains substantively unchanged.

Scope change

The scope of the bill's policy impact remains the same; no new exemptions, definitions, or liability rules were added or removed.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill sponsor from Maya Sweeny to Steven Lum and changed the effective date from July 1, 2026 to July 1, 3000.

Corrected the spelling of 'wilful' to 'willful' in the summary description and within the text of the bill.

Adjusted minor formatting and capitalization in the title and section headers.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 18, 2026

Committee

Reported from PBS (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 394-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to JHA.

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; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Iwamoto, Souza; Noes: none; and Excused: none.

lower

Feb 2, 2026

Committee

Referred to PBS, JHA, referral sheet 6

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

10 primary · 0 co-sponsors