SB 1490 Hawaii Senate · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII RELIEF FUNDING.

Summary

Amends the University of Hawaii Tuition and Fees Special Fund by allowing the Board of Regents to dedicate funding for student aid in direct response to an emergency or disaster, as declared by the Governor. (SD1)

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Feb 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 21, 2025 Last action Dec 8, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SB1490 → SB1490_SD1 · 3 edits

MINOR

This bill amends the University of Hawaii Relief Funding Act to update administrative metadata and clarify the legal status of the Governor's disaster declarations. The most significant substantive change is the capitalization of 'Governor' in the section authorizing emergency expenditures, ensuring the authority is explicitly tied to the state's chief executive rather than a generic role. The effective date for the act remains July 1, 2025, while the bill's internal tracking numbers and formatting have been updated to reflect the first Senate reading.

Scope change

The bill's scope regarding the authority to release funds for emergencies remains unchanged, though the legal reference to the triggering authority was clarified.

DEFINITION

Capitalized 'Governor' in the emergency funding authorization clause to explicitly link the power to the state's chief executive.

TECHNICAL

Updated bill metadata including the title to 'SB1490 SD1', sponsor names, and revision numbers to reflect the first Senate reading.

Adjusted the bill's effective date line to remove redundant text while retaining the July 1, 2025 start date.

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

Feb 13, 2025

Upper · Passed

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

upper

Feb 13, 2025

Committee

Reported from HRE (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 415) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.

upper

Feb 11, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on HRE recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in HRE were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Kim, Kidani, Fukunaga, Hashimoto; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Fevella.

upper

Feb 7, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on HRE has scheduled a public hearing on 02-11-25 3:10PM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.

upper

Jan 27, 2025

Committee

Referred to HRE, WAM.

upper

Jan 23, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and passed First Reading.

upper

Jan 21, 2025

Introduced

Pending Introduction.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors