Hawaii

Prohibits persons from operating a medical cannabis dispensary or cultivating cannabis without a license from the Department of Health. Prohibits individuals from providing certain services to individuals engaging in unlicensed cannabis operations. Requires the Department of Health to send a cease and desist notice to violators. Establishes criminal penalties. Establishes an affirmative defense for, and a conclusive basis for certain violations. Establishes exceptions. Establishes a cannabis cultivator license to authorize the cultivation and distribution of cannabis plants. Requires the Department of Health to only issue one cannabis cultivator license for each person. Establishes limits on: (1) the number of cannabis cultivator licenses the Department of Health may issue; (2) the maximum size of plant canopy for indoor and outdoor cultivations for each cannabis cultivator license; and (3) the maximum plant count of mature cannabis plants for each cannabis cultivator license. Authorizes expenditures from the Medical Cannabis Registry and Regulation Special Fund to fund programs for the mitigation and abatement of nuisances relating to chapter 329D, HRS. Appropriates funds out of the Medical Cannabis Registry and Regulation Special Fund for the Department of Attorney General to enforce, and mitigate nuisances relating to, chapter 329D, HRS. Effective 12/31/2050. (SD2)

Appropriates funds for capital improvement projects in the eleventh senatorial district.

Authorizes the Hawaii State Energy Office to adopt certain federal regulations as they existed on 1/1/2025, that it deems to be in the public interest.

Short form bill relating to agriculture.

Adds, as an allowable use of the Emergency and Budget Reserve Fund, economic payments to certain residents who have incurred losses in a disaster for which the Governor has declared a state of emergency.

Clarifies the Lieutenant Governor's duties as Secretary of State for Intergovernmental Relations, including working to prevent other jurisdictions from making or supporting travel arrangements to Hawaii for homeless or unhoused individuals.

Appropriates funds to the Department of Education for the Department's Hokea Program. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Imposes insurance coverage as a prerequisite for the operation of electric bicycles in a county with a population of five hundred thousand or more. Establishes a regulatory framework for electric bicycle insurance. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Establishes within the Department of Agriculture the Hawaii Agricultural Transportation Assistance Program, to consist of a reimbursement program and grant program, to assist certain farmers and livestock producers with transportation costs for agricultural products, inputs, supplies, and production and distribution of agricultural commodities. Requires reports to the Legislature. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Establishes licensure requirements for freestanding birthing facilities.

Exempts affordable housing projects that are financed by a nonprofit community development financial institution certified by the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation as utilizing less than a certain amount from the Affordable Homeownership Revolving Fund from prevailing wage provisions. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD2)

Reduces the time the Hawaii Public Housing Authority is required to store unclaimed personal effects of a tenant evicted from public housing from thirty days to fourteen days. Effective 7/1/2050. (SD1)

Appropriates moneys for Pololu Valley management, including for the Division of Forestry and Wildlife of the Department of Land and Natural Resources to develop the trailhead; develop the infrastructure necessary to accommodate parking; install appropriate informational, historical, and educational signage; design and construct restroom facilities; and establish positions to manage the trail area. Effective 7/1/2050. (SD1)

Establishes and appropriates funds for a Cold Case Investigation Unit within the Department of the Attorney General. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Establishes a Teacher Workforce Housing Stipend Program to support teacher retention at public and charter schools classified as hard-to-staff. Requires reports to the Legislature. Amends the purpose and uses of the Teachers' Housing Revolving Fund. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD2)

Requires at least fifty per cent of treatment works effluent to be R-1 recycled water by January 1, 2045. Requires each county to report to the Department of Health by 1/1/2027 on the feasibility of recycling treatment works effluent that meets certain standards. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Establishes an Oral Health Task Force to review the status of oral health in the State and make recommendations to improve the State's oral health infrastructure. Establishes one full-time equivalent program specialist V position. Appropriates funds.

Authorizes the Governor to enter into a Cosmetology Licensure Compact on behalf of the State to provide a streamlined process that allows cosmetologists to obtain a multistate license enabling them to practice cosmetology in another state without obtaining a separate license under the laws of that state. Requires the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to adopt rules to implement and administer the Compact. Authorizes the Governor to enter into the Compact. Effective 7/1/2050. (SD2)

Amends section 11-364, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to provide that an excess contribution of more than $100 in cash, in the aggregate, from a single person during an election period to a candidate, candidate committee, or noncandidate committee shall escheat to the Hawaii election campaign fund if not returned to the contributor within 30 days.

Prohibits licensed attorneys from representing clients in small claims court.

Requires the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to establish a Chamber of Commerce Competitive Grant Program. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Defines community outreach board to mean a board established to serve in a community advisory capacity under a county department. Includes community outreach boards in existing provisions of the Sunshine Law relating to neighborhood boards. Authorizes neighborhood board and community outreach board members to attend meetings or presentations related to official board business statewide. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Relating To Labor. Short form bill.

Requires the Deputy Director of Highways of the Department of Transportation to be subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.

Requires a wastewater treatment works to test sewage sludge and any other residual material for the presence of PFAS. Requires the Department of Health to adopt administrative rules for the safe disposal and sequestration of sewage sludge and other residual material that contain specific amounts of PFAS. Prohibits the issuance or renewal of permits if testing yields PFAS in sewage sludge or other residual material on land used for agronomic purposes, on land where drainage tiles have been installed, on land that drains into waters of the State, or land in a five hundred-year floodplain. Effective 12/31/2050. (SD1)