Conference conferees approve North Shore beach‑management draft; most other bills deferred

A joint House and Senate conference committee meeting on April 23 in Conference Room 229 approved the conference draft of House Bill 3 (HD 2 SD 1), a measure on beach management for the North Shore of Oʻahu, while deferring consideration of the bulk of other bills on the agenda to later meetings.

Why it matters: The committee vote advances changes to the beach‑management measure, including a clarified effective date and an extended reporting deadline; conferees also noted the bill carries a related appropriation that has not been fully spent. Several other bills — spanning procurement, education, University of Hawaiʻi bonding, agriculture and climate resilience — were carried over to subsequent conference meetings with new dates and times set.

Conferees approved the HB 3 conference draft on a voice vote. House conferees recorded affirmative votes from Rep. Lehi and Rep. Souza and other house members; senate conferees recorded affirmative votes from Sen. Kim and Sen. Hashimoto and other senate members. The committee did not record any no votes on the conference draft during the meeting.

Committee members said the CD1 for HB 3 cleans up the bill's effective date, setting the effective date to June 30, 2025, and extends the bill's reporting deadline to Dec. 1, 2026. During the discussion staff noted that Sea Grant had received a $1,000,000 appropriation tied to the program in question but had expended about $50,000 to date; committee members urged Sea Grant to make progress on use of those funds before any further extension is considered.

Other bills on the agenda were largely deferred. The committee set future dates (mostly April 24 and April 25 in Room 229) to continue negotiations on multiple items, often because one side had not yet received conference drafts or required WAM (Ways and Means) release. Noted scheduling outcomes from the meeting included: - HB 987 (HD 1 SD 1) relating to procurement: conference committee agreed to reconvene April 24 at 3 p.m. in Room 229. - SB 423 (SD 1 HD 2) relating to the early learning board: rolled over to April 24 at 3 p.m.; senate conferees said they had not completed a vote and asked to reconvene. - SB 532 (SD 2 HD 2) relating to the Department of Education: deferred to April 24 at 3 p.m. - HB 622 (HD 1 SD 1): the house conferees voted to agree to the SD 1 in the meeting (house conferees recorded "I, Rep. Lehi. Aye." and Rep. Souza "Aye."); the senate conferees indicated they could not vote at that time. - SB 1300 (SD 1 HD 1) relating to school meals: deferred to April 24 at 3 p.m. in Room 229 due to pending WAM release. - HB 1168 (HD 1 SD 1) University of Hawaiʻi revenue bonds: committee circulated a CD1 and deferred the bill to Thursday, April 24 at 5:00 p.m. in Room 229 to clarify whether bonds cover year 1 and year 2 of the biennium. - SB 56657 (as spoken in the transcript, relating to a Center for Climate Resilient Development): deferred to Friday at 3 p.m. in Room 229. - SB 865 (relating to CTAHR/agriculture): altered to reflect one extension agent in the draft and rolled to Thursday, April 24 at 1:50 p.m. in Room 229. - HB 442 (HD 1 SD 1) relating to the University of Hawaiʻi: deferred to April 24 at 1:50 p.m. while staff confirm whether some funding was folded into the budget bill (House Bill 300). - HB 1320 (HD 1 ST 1) establishing a graduate‑outcomes database: staff said they would prepare a CD1 and deferred to April 24 at 1:50 p.m. - SB 1146 (relating to the Ala Wai Canal): staff said they would prepare a CD1 and deferred to April 24 at 1:50 p.m.; conferees asked for staff coordination and for updated drafts to be shared with offices.

The meeting closed with the committee scheduling follow‑up conference meetings on April 24 (various times, Room 229) and some items set for Friday. The conference committee is reconvening to finalize outstanding conference drafts and to resolve items that were rolled over during the April 23 session.

Notes on procedure and context: most items on the April 23 agenda were procedural or scheduling in nature; where conference drafts (CD1) were available conferees discussed clarifying edits such as effective dates and reporting deadlines. Several items were deferred because one side had not received a draft or because WAM release or budget cross‑walks needed confirmation.

Next steps: conference conferees will reconvene on the dates and times noted above to finish negotiations on the deferred bills. The committee did not announce additional substantive amendments to the bills that were deferred during the April 23 session.