KA ‘AHA KENEKOA
THE THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE
REGULAR SESSION OF 2025
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Senator Karl Rhoads, Chair |
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Senator Mike Gabbard, Vice Chair |
NOTICE OF HEARING
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DATE: |
Friday, January 31, 2025 |
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TIME: |
9:15 AM |
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PLACE: |
Conference Room 016 & Videoconference State Capitol 415 South Beretania Street |
PHOTO ID REQUIRED FOR ENTRANCE TO THE STATE CAPITOL
BUILDING HOURS: 7AM TO 5PM, MONDAY - FRIDAY
The Legislature is accepting written, videoconference, and in-person testimony at public hearings.
A live stream of all Senate Standing Committee meetings will be available on the Senate YouTube Channel.
A G E N D A
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RELATING TO ELECTIONS. Beginning 6/1/2026, establishes presidential preference primary elections for the 2028 election cycle. Appropriates funds.
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JDC, WAM |
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RELATING TO BAIL. Requires judges to make certain findings regarding a defendant's ability to afford bail.
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JDC |
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PROPOSING AMENDMENTS TO THE HAWAII STATE CONSTITUTION TO ESTABLISH A CONTINUOUS LEGISLATIVE SESSION. Establishes a continuous Legislature. Requires the Legislature to convene at least once each month. Repeals language regarding special sessions, adjournment, and recesses. Creates a 2-year deadline for a bill to be submitted for gubernatorial consideration. Standardizes the number of days that the Governor must approve or veto a bill submitted for consideration. Requires the passage of the legislative budget within 45 days before the end of each fiscal year. Prohibits members of the legislature from holding any position of employment in the private sector during their term. Authorizes members to serve in the United States military reserves, National Guard, or hold any lawful position of government employment, subject to certain current ethical limitations. Establishes salaries of the members of the Legislature pursuant to recommendations by the Commission on Salaries submitted during the 2028 regular session, unless those recommendations are amended by law.
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JDC, WAM |
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RELATING TO SENTENCING. Changes the age for which individuals are eligible for life without parole sentences from eighteen years of age or older to twenty-one years of age or older.
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JDC |
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RELATING TO ELECTIONS. Specifies that election ballots issued by the Chief Election Officer or county clerk shall exclude any candidate who is disqualified by a constitutional or statutory provision. Provides for a process for challenging an inclusion or exclusion of a candidate from a ballot. Includes a candidate's disqualification as grounds for an election contest complaint. Specifies that electors of presidential and vice presidential candidates shall not be individuals who are disqualified by a constitutional or statutory provision.
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JDC, WAM |
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RELATING TO GUARDIANSHIP AND CONSERVATORSHIP SERVICES. Establishes a two-year pilot program in the Probate Court and Family Court of the First Circuit to fund certain guardianship and conservatorship related court resources in situations where the respondent does not have sufficient funds to pay for one or more of the resources and the court has deemed the resource or resources beneficial. Requires the Judiciary to submit reports to the Governor and Legislature. Appropriates funds.
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JDC, WAM |
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RELATING TO CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS. Prohibits state or county grantees, officers and immediate family members of state or county contractors, and officers and immediate family members of state or county grantees, from contributing to candidate committees and noncandidate committees for the duration of the contract. Prohibits state or county grantees from knowingly soliciting any contributions. Requires candidates, candidate committees, and noncandidate committees to return any unlawful contribution to the contributor within 30 calendar days of receipt. Provides that an unlawful contribution shall escheat to the Hawaii Election Campaign Fund if it is not returned to the contributor within 30 calendar days. Requires disclosures of the names of any owners, officers and immediate family members of a state or county contractor or grantee.
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JDC, WAM |
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RELATING TO DUE PROCESS PROTECTIONS. Establishes the Due Process in Immigration Proceedings Program within the Judiciary to provide legal representation to individuals in immigration-related proceedings in immigration court. Appropriates funds.
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JDC, WAM |
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RELATING TO EMERGENCY POWERS. Prohibits the Governor or a Mayor from suspending requests for public records or vital statistics during a declared state of emergency. Allows for a reasonable delay in an agency's response to a request as a result of extenuating circumstances.
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JDC |
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RELATING TO ELECTIONS. Imposes a fee on the total amount of independent expenditures made by a noncandidate committee during an election period.
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JDC, WAM |
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PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE XVII, SECTION 3 OF THE HAWAII CONSTITUTION TO SPECIFY THAT THE STANDARD FOR VOTER APPROVAL OF A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSED BY THE LEGISLATURE IS A MAJORITY OF ALL THE VOTES TALLIED UPON THE QUESTION. Proposes to amend article XVII, section 3 of the Hawaii State Constitution regarding the standard for ratification of a constitutional amendment proposed by the legislature, to require that a majority of all the votes tallied upon the question be a "yes" vote, and not include blank, spoiled, and over votes in determining whether a majority was reached.
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JDC, WAM |
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Decision Making to follow, if time permits.
All testimony received by the Hawai‘i Senate is posted on the Hawai‘i Legislature's website, which is accessible to the public. Please do not include private information that you do not want disclosed to the public.
Please go to the Legislature's website, https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov, to submit written testimony at least 24 hours prior to the hearing. Create a free account on the website, or sign in to an existing account, then click on the "Participate" drop down menu and select the "Submit Testimony" option to get started. While submitting your written testimony, you will be prompted to indicate if you would also like to testify at the hearing in-person or remotely via videoconference.
Please note the following:
· The number of oral testifiers and/or time allotted to each testifier may be limited by the Chair when necessary to adhere to the committee hearing schedule. We may not be able to accommodate everyone who requests to testify orally.
· Testifiers for this hearing will be limited to 2 minutes each.
If you wish to testify via videoconference during the hearing, please review the detailed step-by-step instructions for testimony procedures before you submit your written testimony. Here's a direct link to the instructions: https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/docs/testimonyinstructions.pdf
For general help navigating the committee hearing process, please contact the Public Access Room at (808) 587-0478 or par@capitol.hawaii.gov. You can also visit their website at https://lrb.hawaii.gov/par/.
For special assistance: The cable TV broadcast and/or live stream of this meeting will include closed captioning. If you need an auxiliary aid/service or other accommodation due to a disability, please call the committee clerk at the telephone number listed below or email JDCcommittee@capitol.hawaii.gov. Requests made as early as possible have a greater likelihood of being fulfilled.
For amended notices: Measures that have been deleted are stricken through and measures that have been added are underscored. If a measure is both underscored and stricken through, that measure has been deleted from the agenda.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL THE COMMITTEE CLERK AT (808) 587-7211.
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_____________________________________ Senator Karl Rhoads Chair |