Hawaii Bills

This bill (GM 1407) is a procedural notification, not a new legislative act. It informs the Hawaii Legislature that Governor Green signed SB1044 into law on July 7, 2025. SB1044 addresses property insurance stabilization for condominium buildings, specifically targeting rising premiums and reduced hurricane coverage options. The bill aims to address challenges where condominium associations face exponentially increased deductibles (up to $250,000 per unit) and are forced into expensive secondary insurance markets. This signing confirms the law's enactment but does not describe new policy mechanisms.

This bill (ACT 297, HB613) makes Hawaii's "Safe Spaces for Youth" pilot program permanent within the Office of Youth Services. It directly affects homeless youth and young adults (ages 18-24) across all counties by establishing state-funded shelters offering overnight lodging, meals, medical access, and job/education support. The law provides $871,016 for fiscal year 2025-2026 and $1,841,016 for 2026-2027 to operate these shelters, allowing shelters to admit youth without parental consent for up to 90 days. It requires coordination with state agencies and mandates annual legislative reports on the program's implementation.

This bill, Act 298, updates Hawaii's parentage laws by adopting key provisions from the Uniform Parentage Act of 2017. It modernizes the legal framework to include same-gender couples, surrogacy, and assisted reproductive technology (like IVF) through new definitions such as "functional parent" and "intended parent." The law establishes clear procedures for determining parentage, directly affecting families using assisted reproduction, surrogacy arrangements, and child welfare agencies. It ensures equal treatment for all children regardless of family structure, replacing outdated terminology in Hawaii's statutes.

GM 1412 is a governor's message correcting the title of another bill (HB 320), not a substantive legislative bill itself. The actual bill it references (HB 320, Act 284) establishes "supported decision-making agreements" for certain adults. It allows "qualified adults" (adults with disabilities, mental illness, or aged 65+) to voluntarily partner with trusted individuals ("members of the supportive community") to help them understand decisions about health, safety, or finances - without giving up their own decision-making authority. This process explicitly does not override court-appointed guardianship or conservatorship.

This bill (HB 1462, now Act 300) expands Hawaii's crisis intervention program by establishing two new crisis services sites on Oahu. It directly affects homeless individuals or those at risk of homelessness with mental health or substance use issues, connecting them to health services instead of the criminal justice system. The law requires one site to serve areas with high concentrations of people facing these challenges, and mandates collaboration between the Department of Health, law enforcement, courts, and community providers. The program takes effect July 1, 2025.

HB943 (Act 299) establishes a new homeless triage and treatment center program within Hawaii's alcohol and drug abuse division to serve homeless individuals and those at risk of homelessness with substance abuse or mental health needs. The program provides emergency shelter, medical assessments, substance abuse treatment, behavioral health services, and culturally-based life skills groups, collaborating with hospitals, law enforcement, and service providers. It allocates $500,000 for fiscal years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 to implement these services. The law takes effect July 1, 2025, and directly affects homeless individuals in Hawaii with co-occurring health challenges.

This bill creates a pilot program to help the Hawaii Department of Health address staffing shortages by streamlining its hiring process. The pilot, effective until June 30, 2028, delegates certain human resources responsibilities from the Department of Human Resources Development to the Department of Health. Key provisions include allowing the Department of Health to forward applications without initial verification of minimum qualifications (verification occurs after selection), flexibility to consider required qualifications as desired for positions at or below SR-10 salary levels, and the ability to directly hire for civil service positions when more than five vacancies exist for a position classification. The program aims to help the Department of Health more quickly fill its reported 900 vacant positions as of September 2024.

Hawaii's HB 320 (Act 284) creates a legal framework for "supported decision-making agreements" to help adults with disabilities, mental illness, or who are aging (65+) make their own choices. The law allows these "qualified adults" to voluntarily partner with trusted people (their "supportive community") to receive help understanding options, accessing information, and communicating decisions - without those supporters making decisions for them. The agreements explicitly state they do not override court-appointed guardianship or conservatorship. Supporters cannot be paid for this assistance, and the process is designed to respect the individual's autonomy in daily health, safety, and financial matters.

This bill (HB 474, Act 285) appropriates $100,000 for fiscal years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 to fund Hawaii’s Department of Health’s existing fall prevention program. It directly supports seniors aged 65+ by continuing a coordinated statewide effort to prevent falls - the leading cause of fatal injuries and emergency visits for this group. The funding maintains current services established under Act 153 (2014), which created a dedicated fall prevention coordinator position. This is not a new program but a continuation of existing state funding to reduce hospital costs and improve outcomes for older adults.

HB1296 would have required the Administrator of Emergency Management to submit detailed reports to the legislature within 30 days after any transfer of funds from Hawaii's Major Disaster Fund (down from 60 days), instead of the current requirement. These reports would have included a description of fund usage, an accounting of FEMA-eligible and ineligible expenses, and the impact on programs that provided transferred funds. The bill also would have mandated an annual summary report by October 1, 2025, covering the prior fiscal year. These provisions aimed to increase transparency in disaster fund management following the 2023 Maui wildfires.

SB31 would have made discriminatory restrictive covenants - property rules restricting transactions based on race, sex, sexual orientation, or other protected traits - void and unenforceable. It would have allowed any person discovering such a covenant to record a notice (using a specific template) stating it is void, with immunity from liability for errors if acting in good faith. This provision would have directly affected property transactions and title records by enabling third parties to challenge covenants in public records without legal risk.

SB 583 proposed to allow the Hawaii Stadium Authority to lease naming rights for the stadium and the Hawaii Tourism Authority to lease naming rights for the Convention Center. It would have exempted these facilities from standard concessions bidding rules and required that advertising and naming rights revenues be deposited into dedicated special funds (Stadium Development Special Fund and Convention Center Enterprise Special Fund). The bill also updated existing law to specify that these funds would receive revenue from naming rights, advertising, and other related activities like food services and sponsorships.