HB 2581 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.

HB 2581 clarifies which types of events qualify as disasters or emergencies under the state's emergency management system. This bill directly affects local governments, emergency management agencies, and public safety officials who implement response protocols. It defines specific event types (like natural disasters, public health crises, or infrastructure failures) that trigger emergency management procedures. The key mechanism is updating the legal definition to ensure consistent application during crises. This is a policy clarification, not a new program or funding measure.

Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

May 2026

House Passage

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Apr 2026

Governor

Introduced Jan 28, 2026 Last action May 1, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 5 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB2581_SD1_PROPOSED → HB2581_SD2 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was fundamentally rewritten to shift its primary focus from establishing a new community resilience hub program to clarifying the legal definitions of 'disaster' and 'emergency' to prevent the governor from using emergency powers for long-term policy issues like the housing shortage. While the original version focused entirely on funding and building community hubs, the new version adds strict definitions to limit executive power, then re-introduces the community hub program as a secondary part of the bill.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded to include a major constitutional clarification regarding the limits of emergency powers, whereas the previous version was solely focused on disaster preparedness infrastructure.

DEFINITION

Added specific definitions for 'catastrophic harm' and modified the definitions of 'disaster' and 'emergency' to explicitly exclude long-term issues like housing shortages from triggering emergency powers.

SCOPE

Changed the primary purpose of the bill from establishing a new program to clarifying the constitutional balance of power between the legislature and the executive branch.

REQUIREMENT

Added a new requirement for the emergency management agency to identify specific locations on each island that can serve as state disaster response and mitigation hubs when a state of emergency is declared.

Reorganized the bill structure, splitting the content into three parts where Part I focuses on constitutional definitions, Part II covers the community resilience hub program, and Part III covers effective dates.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

May 1, 2026

Upper · Passed

Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 5:51 PM; Conference Room 016.

upper

May 1, 2026

Upper · Passed

Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 5:40 PM; Conference Room 016.

upper

May 1, 2026

Upper · Passed

Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 5:10 PM; Conference Room 016.

upper

May 1, 2026

Upper · Passed

Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 4:30 PM; Conference Room 016.

upper

May 1, 2026

Upper · Passed

Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 3:30 PM; Conference Room 016.

upper

Apr 30, 2026

Upper · Passed

Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 1:45PM; Conference Room 016.

upper

Apr 29, 2026

Upper · Passed

Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-30-26 3:00PM; CR 016.

upper

Apr 28, 2026

Lower · Passed

Bill scheduled for Conference Committee Meeting on Wednesday, 04-29-26 3:05PM in conference room 016.

lower

Apr 16, 2026

Amended

House disagrees with Senate amendment (s).

lower

Apr 14, 2026

Introduced

Returned from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 705) in amended form (SD 2).

lower

Apr 14, 2026

Upper · Passed

Report adopted; Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 2). Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none . Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House.

upper

Apr 6, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on WAM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in WAM were as follows: 12 Aye(s): Senator(s) Dela Cruz, Moriwaki, DeCoite, Elefante, Hashimoto, Inouye, Kanuha, Kidani, Kim, Richards, Wakai, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Lee, C..

upper

Apr 1, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on WAM will hold a public decision making on 04-06-26 10:32AM; Conference Room 211 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 30, 2026

Upper · Passed

Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM.

upper

Mar 30, 2026

Committee

Reported from PSM (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3293) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.

upper

Mar 25, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on PSM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in PSM were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) Fukunaga, Lee, C., DeCorte; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 2 Excused: Senator(s) Hashimoto, Inouye.

upper

Mar 24, 2026

Committee

Re-Referred to PSM, WAM.

upper

Mar 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on PSM has scheduled a public hearing on 03-25-26 3:00PM; CR 016 & Videoconference (Proposed Draft).

upper

Mar 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee on PSM has deleted the measure from decision making scheduled on 03-23-26 3:00PM; CR 016 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 18, 2026

Committee

Re-Referred to PSM, JDC.

upper

Mar 16, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on PSM has scheduled a public hearing on 03-20-26 3:15PM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 10, 2026

Committee

Referred to PSM, JDC/WAM.

upper

Mar 6, 2026

Introduced

Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 119).

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

Feb 27, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 15 Ayes: Representative(s) Todd, Takenouchi, Hartsfield, Hussey, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Kitagawa, Kusch, Miyake, Morikawa, Perruso, Templo, Yamashita, Alcos, Gedeon, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Lee, M..

lower

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 JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 746-26) as amended in HD 2, recommending referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 18, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 8 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Belatti, Kahaloa, Takayama, Garcia; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Cochran, Shimizu; Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Hashem, Sayama.

lower

Feb 11, 2026

Committee

Reported from PBS (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 189-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to JHA.

lower

Feb 6, 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, Iwamoto, Hashem, Ichiyama, Morikawa, Poepoe, Woodson, Shimizu, Souza; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.

lower

Feb 2, 2026

Committee

Referred to PBS, JHA, FIN, referral sheet 6

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors