Immigration / ICE Guardrails
HB1768
Limits Immigration‑Related Activities
Prohibits state and county law enforcement agencies from entering into agreements with federal authorities. Restricts law enforcement from assisting federal immigration enforcement unless there is a judicial warrant or legal requirement.
HB1839
Transparency and consent in custody
Requires state and county law enforcement agencies to notify detainees their rights before immigration interviews, and any access federal immigration officials have to them must be documented and publicly available.
HB1870
LIMIT IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AT Sensitive Locations
This measure establishes statewide standards for state and county agencies, officers, employees, and contractors to limit participation in civil immigration enforcement activities, particularly in or near protected community locations such as schools, health care facilities, shelters, courthouses, and places of worship.
HB1886
Mandatory No facial coverings for ID
Limit collaboration between state and federal authorities in immigration enforcement operations and sets standards requiring state and federal law enforcement officers to follow specific identification and facial covering requirements while conducting enforcement activities.
HB2540
Transparency on immigration enforcement Policy
Limits cooperation between state or county law enforcement and federal authorities in civil immigration enforcement. Requiring law enforcement agencies to create and publicly post written policies on civil immigration enforcement, restricts officers from stopping or detaining someone due to their immigration status except in limited circumstances.
HB1548
Lower Misdemeanor imprisonment
Lowering the sentence for a misdemanors to three hundred sixty-four days rather than a year. Not an immigration bill but will help prevent individuals without legal status from risking consequences to their immigration status.
HB1838
Visa Certification for noncitizen
This establishes uniform statewide requirements for policies and procedures governing the issuance of U and T visa certifications for noncitizen victims of crime, ensuring they align with federal laws and regulations. It also requires each state and county certifying entity to adopt and implement a policy and process for issuing these certifications in accordance with the statewide standards.
Supporting Hawaiians
Temporary OHA Funding Increase
Temporarily increases the total amount of public land trust revenues transferred to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, while reaffirming the State's obligation to the 20 percent pro rata share pursuant to the Hawaii State Constitution.
Funding for Hawaiian Homelands Infrastructure and Housing
Restructures the conveyance tax in multiple ways. Allocates a portion of conveyance tax revenues to the Hawaiian Homelands Infrastructure and Housing Special Fund.
Broadens Qualifying Relatives
Amends the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended, to include sibling's children as qualifying relatives of lessees for the purposes of lease transfer and lease successorship, in the same manner currently allowed for spouses, children, grandchildren, and siblings.
Protects Hawaiian Rights
Authorizes the Board of Land and Natural Resources to enter into community co-management agreements to protect or restore customary and traditional Native Hawaiian rights; archaeological, historical, and environmental resources; and native species and habitats; to manage parking and visitor activities; or for ʻāina education.
Appointment of Councilmembers
Transfers the appointment authority for Island Burial Council members from the Governor and Senate to the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Mandatory Reporting
Amends the membership and responsibilities of the Public Land Trust Working Group to generate reports in order to determine the correct budget for OHA.
Benefits for ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi Teachers
Requires additional benefits to teachers in Hawaiian language medium education whose responsibilities are greater or unique and require additional language skills.
ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi in Lawmaking
Requires that priority be given to the language of a law that aligns with the intent of the Legislature if there is a difference between the English and Hawaiian versions of the law.
Incorporates Hawaiian Land Practices
Amends the composition of the Land Use Commission to permit more than one member who has substantial experience or expertise in traditional Hawaiian land usage and knowledge of cultural land practices and require at least one member who has substantial experience in water resource management.
Income Tax Credit for Agriculture Investment
Establishes a nonrefundable income tax credit for certain agricultural investment costs incurred for agricultural activities conducted on Hawaiian homelands.
Homelessness
AID FOR YOUTH FACING HOMELESSNESS
Establishes a five-year Youth Housing Stability Assistance Pilot Program to provide financial assistance to youth between the ages of 18 and 24 who are experiencing housing instability following certain adverse life events.
AID FOR STUDENTS FACING HOMELESSNESS
Requires the Department of Education to establish a program for the support of students experiencing homelessness.
COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
Allows community mental health outpatient programs that have agreed to provide mental health services to a defendant as part of an assisted community treatment order to prepare a certificate for assisted community treatment and provide the certificate to a defendant and may file an assisted community treatment petition with the Family Court.
MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT FOR HOUSELESS INDIVIDUALS
Funds a pilot program to provide intensive mobile treatment-type services to chronically houseless individuals suffering from serious brain disorders like schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.
Criminal Justice Reform Bills
hB2494
Limits unnecessary arrest
To reduce unnecessary arrests for minor offenses, require officers to justify warrantless arrests, and encourage the use of citations instead of jail unless there is a safety concern.
hB2413
Pretrial Release FOrm Nonviolent offense
Requires courts to release people charge with low-level, nonviolent offense on their own recognizance instead of keeping then in jail, unless there are public safety concerns or the case involves certain excluded offenses.
HB1516
LIMIT IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AT Sensitive Locations
Judges must adjust bail amounts to defendant ability to pay, and excludes welfare benefits from that consideration.
Affordable Housing
RESTRUCTURES CONVEYANCE TAX
Restructures the conveyance tax in multiple ways. Allocates a portion of conveyance tax collections to the Dwelling Unit Revolving Fund to fund infrastructure programs in areas that meet minimum standards of transit-supportive density and a portion to the Hawaiian Home Lands Infrastructure and Housing Special Fund.
ALLOWS PETS IN AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING
Requires affordable rental housing that receives financial assistance from the Hawaiʻi Housing Finance and Development Corporation to allow residents to own or otherwise maintain one or more common household pets.
DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSIT-SUPPORTIVE DENSITIES
Requires the counties to allow the development of transit-supportive densities in any county-designated transit-oriented development area.
HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE GROWTH BONDS
Proposes constitutional amendments to expressly provide that the Legislature may authorize political subdivisions, such as the counties, to issue housing infrastructure growth bonds.
UPDATES BUILDING CODES
Fixes the applicable building codes, standards, and county amendments for the life of a building permit, subject to certain exceptions and rules.
UPDATES TO HHFDC
Removes the prohibition against qualified residents for Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation-approved projects holding a majority interest in land and removes the requirement that qualified residents demonstrate financial viability or ability to pay rent.
COUNTY AUTHORITIES IN HOUSING PROJECTS
Makes permanent the authority of the counties to share in facilitating the development, construction, financing, refinancing, or other provision of mixed-use developments, including low- and moderate-income housing projects, and issue county bonds for this purpose.
PERMANENTLY AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Authorizes HHFDC to designate certain for-sale units as permanently affordable housing, subject to certain restrictions.
Affordable HOusing Support
Allows tax credits claimed under the State Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program to be used to offset taxes imposed by the state transient accommodations tax law.
LOW INCOME HOUSING TAX CREDIT
Shortens the period during which certain judicial proceedings involving environmental assessments and environmental impact statements on actions that propose the use of land for, or construction of, affordable housing or clean energy projects must be initiated.
UPDATES TO Dwelling Unit Revolving Fund Equity Program
Makes the Dwelling Unit Revolving Fund Equity Pilot Program permanent, with modifications that include changing the method for computation of interest for purchasers of certain real property.
Health
Limit Flavored Vape Products
Allows County ordinances enacted already in all Counties which prohibit sale of flavored vape products to take effect.
Regulation of Flavored Vape Products
Restricts sale of vape products in Hawaii that are not certified by the FDA – this includes all flavored vape products.
Digital Youth Mental Health Program
Creates a Digital Youth Mental Health Platform Pilot Project to help young people address and manage mental health challenges.
Adolescent Mental Health Services
Funds community-based organizations to provide preventive and early intervention mental health services to adolescents within the community.
In-Home Health Care
Establishes a KupunAloha pilot program to provide in-home health care and support services to eligible participants who do not otherwise qualify for government assistance.
Protections From Legal Action
Shield health care providers who provide legal gender-affirming health care services in Hawaii from out of State legal action.
Protections of Health Care Facilities
Prohibits persons from interfering with another person's access to or from a health care facility or disrupting the normal functioning of a health care facility.
Funding SNAP Funds
Appropriates funds to replace cut federal funds in order to continue nutrition education for SNAP beneficiaries.
Protection of Medical Information
Prohibits health care facilities, health care providers, and emergency medical services from furnishing medical debt to a consumer credit reporting agency.
Health Care Workforce Development
Establishes positions and appropriates funds to the University of Hawaii to support health care workforce development in the State.
Improved Maternal Health Care
Establishes Pilot Program to offer eligible participants improved maternal health care through remote patient monitoring for maternal hypertension and maternal diabetes.
Improved Maternal Health Care
Expands the Healthcare Preceptor Tax Credit to physician assistants, dietitians, and social workers to encourage mentorship of trainees.
Authorizes Telehealth Physicians
Authorizes out-of-state physicians who are licensed and in good standing in the state in which they reside to provide an initial consultation via telehealth to a patient located in the State.
Extends Child Care Subsidies
Extends childcare subsidies to disabled parents or guardians, regardless of their employment status.
Dental Practice Reforms
Extends childcare subsidies to disabled parents or guardians, regardless of their employment status.
Renewable Energy & Electric Vehicles
Eases Solar Panel Permitting
Requires a self-certification process for permitting of solar panels.
Eases Permitting for Electric Vehicle Facilities
Reduces permitting requirements for the installation, maintenance, repair, and replacement of an electric vehicle charging systems.
Access to Electric Vehicle Charging
Reduces permitting requirements for the installation, maintenance, repair, and replacement of an electric vehicle charging systems.
Funding for Clean Vehicles
Reduces permitting requirements for the installation, maintenance, repair, and replacement of an electric vehicle charging systems.
Conservation and Cesspools
Funding for Environmental Protection
Establishes new special funds to receive allocations of green fee revenues for the following purposes: watershed, biodiversity, and fire resilience; aquatic resources conservation; cesspool conversion; and coastal restoration.
Funding for Red Hill Research
Appropriates funds for studies on remediation of substances released from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility; environmental monitoring and testing; research on groundwater modeling and sampling; and independent testing and verification of water data, to be published on a public dashboard.
Establishes Agricultural Programs
Establishes a two-year Conservation and Agriculture Environmental Stewardship Pilot Program within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.
Protects Aquatic Life
Prohibits the harvest of aquatic life from state marine waters for commercial aquarium purposes, regardless of the method of collection for Hawaii island.
Mitigates Toxic Waste
Prohibits the sale, offer for sale, or distribution for sale of any disposable electronic smoking device in the State to control toxic waste.
Protects Habitats
Authorizes the Department of Land and Natural Resources to operate conservation banks for situations where a person or entity is required to provide compensatory mitigation to offset adverse impacts to threatened, endangered, candidate, or proposed species as part of an approved incidental take license and habitat conservation plan.
Protects Native Wildlife
Requires any existing habitat conservation plan that does not include an agreement for emergency medical and rehabilitation services for affected native wildlife to be amended to include such services in the agreement.
Cesspool Disclosure
Requires sellers to provide buyers with a cesspool disclosure form before the execution of a real estate purchase contract.
Funding for Cesspool Conversion
Establishes and appropriates funds for a Cesspool Conversion Revolving Loan Fund, to be administered by the Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority, to provide financial assistance, including low-interest or forgivable loans, to eligible homeowners for the upgrade, conversion, or connection of cesspools.
Increases Affordability of Cesspool Conversions
Establishes a Working Group to review rules and practices regarding wastewater systems and cesspools to make cesspool conversions more affordable.
Cesspool Conversion Requirements
Allows certain extensions of the deadline for cesspool conversions. Of concern, this would extend the period of pollution.
Education
Free School Meals
Expands free school meal coverage to all public school students starting in fall of 2029.
Phone Bans in Schools
Prohibits a student from using a telecommunication device on school grounds during the instructional day.
Maintenance of School Facilities
Transfers all deferred maintenance functions, funds, and vacant facilities development branch positions from the Department of Education to the School Facilities Authority.
Reviews Public School Facilities
Establishes a temporary, independent Public School Realignment and Closure Commission to develop and recommend a comprehensive package of school consolidations, realignments, and closures.
Increases Accessibility in Schools
Implement universal screenings for reading disabilities, offers student support and teacher training.
Improves Mathematic Education
Establishes a Numeracy Coaching Program
Establishes Robotics as a Sport
Appropriates funds to the Department of Education to establish robotics as an interscholastic sport.
Supports Arts in Schools
Appropriates funds to the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts for the Artists in the Schools Program.
Establishes Literacy Program
Establishes and appropriates funds for the Department of Education to establish and implement a two-year Community Literacy Labs Pilot Program.
Establishes Climate Literacy Program
Authorizes the Department of Education to establish a voluntary climate literacy certificate program
Funding for Community Schools
Appropriates funds to the Department of Education to support community schools.
Guidelines for Heat in Schools
Requires the Board of Education to adopt guidelines for outdoor exercise in hot conditions.
Guidelines for AI Use in Schools
Establishes an Artificial Intelligence in Education Task Force to develop guidelines and recommendations for the use of artificial intelligence in state public education.
Guidelines for AI Use in Schools
Develops a publicly available statewide database and geographic information systems map of arts entities and programs engaged in arts and arts education.
Increases Accessibility to Arts Programs
Establishes the Music Accessibility Pilot Program within the Hawai'i State Public Library System to expand access to public concerts and musical education throughout the State.
Funding for Early Learning Professionals
Funds UH to support early learning professionals in the State.
Rights for Student Athletes
Affirms College student-athletes' rights to engage in name, image, and likeness activities for compensation.
Agriculture
Extends Agricultural Park Leases
Allows State agricultural park leases on Oahu with a remaining term of 15 years to have the leases extended without opening them up to competition from new applicants.
Subsidies for Farmers and Ranchers
Subsidizes start-up or small-scale farmers for a portion of their costs to transport livestock, livestock products, agricultural commodities, and certain supplies within the State.
Clarifies Agricultural District Usage
Clarifying the allowable uses within the agricultural district with respect to farm dwellings and farm employee housing.
Funding to Control Fruit Flies
Appropriates funds for the Area-Wide Fruit Fly Suppression Program.
Supports Clean Plant Materials
Establishes a Clean Plant Program within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to support the production, maintenance, and distribution of disease-free, clean plant material to growers, nurseries, and other agricultural producers in the State.
Supports Food Systems
Establishes the Climate-Resilient Food Systems Grant Program within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.
Establishes Agricultural Programs
Establishes a two-year Conservation and Agriculture Environmental Stewardship Pilot Program within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.
Mitigates Harmful Weeds
Establishes a State Noxious Weed Coordinator and updates the process for designating and managing noxious weeds.
Supports Housing for Agricultural Workers
Establishes an Agricultural Workforce Housing Working Group within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to address the shortage and challenges of agricultural workforce housing in the State.
Encourages Purchase of Local Produce
Authorizes a State contract for the purchase of local produce having a value of more than $25,000 to be for a term of at least five years.
Promotes Agricultural Tourism
Establishes statewide, uniform standards to promote agricultural tourism activities in the State for all counties that have adopted an agricultural tourism ordinance.
Agricultural Loans
Authorizes the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to package and sell a portion of its agricultural loan portfolio to permitted third parties.
Protection from Coconut Rhinoceros Beetles
Allows use of netting banned for fishing to be used to protect palms from the coconut rhinoceros beetle.
Clean Elections
Updates to Voter Registration
Makes automatic voter registration “opt out” when applying for instruction permits, provisional licenses, driver's licenses, and identification cards.
Funding for Voting Accessibility
Appropriates funds to: (1) the counties for more voter service centers for in-person voting; (2) the Office of Elections to print and mail the digital voter information guide to all registered voters; and (3) the Office of Elections to support a public outreach and engagement campaign.
State Contractor Transparency
Prohibits the compensated officers of state contractors, and their immediate family members, from making, promising, or soliciting certain campaign contributions for the duration of the contract exceeding the small purchase threshold.
Updates Statute of Limitation Campaign Finance Violations
Clarifies that the five‑year statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions of campaign finance violations begins upon discovery of the offense, not when it was committed.
Prohibition on Executive Employees Engaging in Fundraising
Prohibits Executive Branch employees with procurement authority from engaging in certain campaign fundraising activities.
Controls Use of Campaign Funds
Disallows the use of campaign funds to purchase tickets for an event or fundraiser held by another candidate or committee.