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Joint conference committee postpones consideration of multiple bills to April 24 pending committee drafts and finance releases
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Summary
The Joint House and Senate Conference met April 23 in Conference Room 16 and agreed to postpone review of more than a dozen measures — including SB3 A2 (procurements) and HB423 HD2 SD1 (workers' compensation) — until April 24 while parties finalize committee draft language and secure finance/WAM releases.
The Joint House and Senate Conference convened April 23, 2025, in Conference Room 16 and postponed consideration of most items on the agenda to April 24 while conferees awaited final committee drafts (CDs) and finance or WAM releases.
Conferees identified a mix of technical cleanups and pending budget releases as the reason for the delays. No substantive floor votes or formal approvals were recorded during the session; instead, members repeatedly agreed to “roll” measures to the next day to allow staff to circulate finalized CD language and secure requisite approvals from finance committees.
Key measures mentioned included SB3 A2 (house draft 1), a protest/procurements measure offered on behalf of the Senate; HB159 HD1 SD1 relating to qualified community rehabilitation programs (the transcript notes a $3,000,000 ceiling in the CD); and HB423 HD2 SD1, a workers' compensation measure whose submitted draft listed footer number 3371. Those measures — and others listed below — were postponed with return times scheduled on April 24, 2025, in Conference Room 16 at the times recorded by conferees (mostly 10:00–10:15 a.m., with some items listed for 10:14 a.m.).
Other bills the conference addressed and postponed included HB202 HD1 SD2 (adequate reserve fund), HP430 HD2 SD2 (internships), HB1031 HD1 SD1 and HP1033 HD1 SD1 (public employment cost items), HB162 HD2 SD1 (collective bargaining), HP480 HD1 SD1 (workers' compensation), HB214 HD1 SD2 (government), SB828 SD1 HD1 (workers' compensation medical benefits), SB1491 SD1 HD1 (departmental data sharing), SB1567 SD1 HD1 (classification and compensation systems), SB1454 SD1 HD2 (wage and hour law), SB855 SD1 HD1 (Hawaii Retirement Savings Act, preserving opt-out language per conferees), SB717 (collective bargaining), SB742 (delay to data sharing; conferees noted appropriation language already present in the budget and CIO-requested edits), and SB935 SD2 HD3 (government).
Conferees repeatedly noted two operational constraints: (1) the need for a finalized committee draft (CD) with a clean effective date and any technical amendments incorporated before conference action, and (2) the need for release from finance committees (referred to in the session as FIN release or FIN/WAM release) when items carried budgetary implications. In several cases speakers said a CD had been circulated “last night” or would be sent “shortly,” but conferees deferred action until the final text and finance releases were on file.
The conference set return times almost uniformly for Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Conference Room 16, with most items listed for 10:00 a.m. or 10:15 a.m.; one item was explicitly proposed for 10:14 a.m. No final dispositions, amendments, or roll-call votes were recorded in the April 23 transcript.
The conference is a procedural step to reconcile House and Senate versions of bills and does not itself enact law; any agreed text still requires the formal steps specified by statute and chamber rules before becoming law.
Looking ahead, staff on both sides are expected to circulate finalized CDs and to confirm required finance committee releases before the April 24 reconvening so conferees can consider final language.
