Hawaii lawmakers debate STEM expansion, vaping rules and budget shifts
Efforts to legalize any form of gambling again appear dead this year but the state Legislature continues to move bills that would eliminate future tax cuts, limit free school lunches to public charter students and prohibit ICE and local law enforcement from covering their faces.
Many bills that passed critical deadlines this week to stay alive have been referred to the House and Senate money committees that wield considerable power over whether they continue to move through the rest of the legislative session, which is scheduled to end May 8. Here is a look at the status of key measures so far in the 2026 legislative session:
Free school lunches
All public school students originally would receive free school lunches under the original version of House Bill 1561.
But it's since been amended to only apply to students attending charter schools.
The bill offers no estimate of how much it would cost to feed charter school students and has been referred to the House Finance Committee.
ICE face coverings
Several bills were introduced at the start of the legislative session that began in January that would prohibit law enforcement from covering their faces and require them and their vehicles to identify what agency they're from.
The bills followed ICE immigration sweeps and protests that resulted in ICE agents shooting two demonstrators to death in Minneapolis, Minn.
The latest versions of HB 1886, HB 2540 and Senate Bill 3322 remain alive.
Tax breaks
Two pending bills have yet to receive a public hearing that were proposed by Gov. Josh Green to cancel the next five scheduled annual income tax cuts for Hawaii taxpayers.
HB 2306 and SB 3125 were referred, respectively, to the House Finance and Senate Ways and Means committees.
A pair of similarly situated bills proposed by the governor, HB 2280 and SB 3099, propose to withdraw money from the state's roughly $1.8 billion Emergency and Budget Reserve Fund, or "rainy day" fund. No amount is specified, suggesting that the bills exist to provide flexibility if needed to balance the state budget or to address funding emergencies that arise later in the session.
Keiki
Robotics competitions would become an interscholastic sport to encourage STEM education under HB 2534.
And HB 1563 would give counties the power to regulate the sale of vapes and has been referred to the House Finance Committee.
Separate House and Senate bills - SB 2679 and HB 1562 - also would establish a one-year Digital Youth Mental Health Platform Pilot Project.
Both bills have been referred to their respective House and Senate money committees.
Pedestrian safety
Multiple bills were aimed this session at protecting pedestrians in crosswalks, including HB 2213 and SB 2992, which specify that drivers must wait until a pedestrian has crossed halfway through a crosswalk "plus an additional lane of the roadway" before proceeding.
HB 2186 additionally creates new penalties for injuring pedestrians, especially if they are in school zones or are visually impaired.
Clean government
SB 2661 would require Hawaii's legislative and judicial branches to follow the same antinepotism rules the Legislature already imposed on the executive branch, counties and Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Days of observance
Lawmakers introduced several bills this year to create new state holidays, informal "days of observance" and rename Statehood Day.
Those that have survived so far include the latest version of HB 2045 that would establish La Hoihoi Ea, sovereignty restoration day, to replace Statehood Day.
And SB 2147 and HB 2001 would designate Feb. 13 as Love my Library Day.
SB 2256 also would designate Joseph Dutton's April 27 birthday as "Brother Joseph Dutton Day" to honor work caring for Hansen's Disease patients on Kalaupapa.
Stalled bills
All of the bills designed to allow some form of legal gambling are in trouble, including gambling on cruise ships, permitting a single casino in the proposed Stadium Development District, somewhere else on Oahu or even studying the possibility of a lottery in Hawaii, the only state other than Utah that bans gambling.
At the same time, HB 2198 appears dead after it would prohibit a new form of online "prediction markets" gambling.
Drunken driving
One bill championed by Green to reduce impaired driving and fatal crashes again has stalled.
HB 1827 would lower the threshold for driving under the influence of alcohol from .08 to .05 or more grams of alcohol.
The bill was referred to two House committees and received no hearing. Three similar bills introduced last year carried over to this year's legislative session but received no committee hearing despite two bills being referred to new committees in January. Those bills, which include two proposed by Green, are SB 346, SB 1403 and HB 1084.
Military training
Legislators have shown little enthusiasm this session to prohibit the military from conducting live-fire exercises on state land the military leases across the state.
A handful of bills appear dead that would ask voters if they want a constitutional amendment to prohibit military "live-fire training exercises on public trust lands."
Another bill that also has little support would prohibit the Board of Land and Natural Resources from extending leases "allowing the live-fire training and bombing of public lands, except for a one-time extension of up to five years to phase out existing leases allowing the livefire training and bombing of public lands."
Construction unions
Hawaii's construction unions weren't successful this year in having Hawaii taxpayers cover expenses for a requested annual paid holiday and retroactive hazard pay.
HB 2028 aimed to have the state cover the cost of giving private-sector construction workers Labor Day, a federal holiday, as a paid day off by providing a refundable tax credit to employers that give those workers the day off with pay. The bill was advanced by one House committee, then deferred Feb. 13 by a second House committee.
Two other bills, HB 2024 and SB 2664, proposed to have the state provide construction workers with a $20,000 one-time hazard pay bonus if they meet eligibility criteria for working during the coronavirus pandemic. Neither bill received a hearing.
