SB 1570 Hawaii Senate · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.

Summary

Requires the Department of Transportation to plan and design an expansion of the runway at Molokai Airport to accommodate larger aircraft. Requires the Department of Transportation to submit a report to the Legislature. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/2077. (SD1)

Issues: ✓ Transportation

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Feb 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 22, 2025 Last action Dec 8, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SB1570 → SB1570_SD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was significantly rewritten to remove a controversial emergency power provision that would have forced the Governor to declare a state of emergency if air service to Molokai or Lanai was unavailable for over 24 hours. The new version focuses solely on requiring the Department of Transportation to plan a runway expansion and submit a report to the legislature, while also delaying the effective date to July 1, 2077.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed from a combination of emergency powers and infrastructure planning to exclusively focus on infrastructure planning and reporting.

REQUIREMENT

Removed the mandate requiring the Governor to declare a state of emergency and use emergency powers (such as deploying the National Guard) if air service to Molokai or Lanai is unavailable for more than 24 hours.

Changed the primary requirement to only mandate that the Department of Transportation plan and design a runway expansion at Molokai airport.

Removed the requirement for the Governor to reasonably exercise all available emergency powers to ensure essential transportation services.

TIMELINE

Extended the effective date of the Act from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2077.

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 PSM/TCA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 417) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.

upper

Feb 10, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on TCA recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in TCA were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Lee, C., Inouye, Elefante, Kanuha, DeCorte; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.

upper

Feb 10, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on PSM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in PSM were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Elefante, Wakai, Fukunaga, Rhoads, DeCorte; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.

upper

Feb 6, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on PSM/TCA has scheduled a public hearing on 02-10-25 3:15PM; Conference Room 225 & Videoconference.

upper

Jan 27, 2025

Committee

Referred to PSM/TCA, WAM.

upper

Jan 23, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and passed First Reading.