A Joint House and Senate conference committee on April 25 adopted a conference draft to establish an Office of the State Fire Marshal within the Department of Law Enforcement and approved associated staffing and funding. The committee recorded agreement on a proposed appropriation of $2,212,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 and 2027 to support eight positions tied to the new office.

Committee co-chairs and conferees from both the House and Senate said the measure was the product of collaboration among lawmakers, agency staff and outside advocates. The bill aligns with Act 209, which established the state fire marshal last year and was authored by Senator Wakai, conferees said during the meeting.

The conference draft in front of conferees set out placement of the new office inside the Department of Law Enforcement and enumerated duties for the fire marshal. Conference managers said the remaining issue the committee had been resolving was the funding for positions; memos from Ways and Means and Finance recommended the $2,212,000 appropriation for each of the two fiscal years cited.

The committee took a formal voice vote. House conferees recorded aye votes from Representative Baladi, Representative Tarnas, Representative Lamasau, Representative Ichiyama and Representative Souza. On the Senate side, the roll included aye votes from Senator Elefante, Senator Aquino, Senator Lee and Senator Wakai; Senator Rhodes and Senator DeCort were recorded as excused. The committee chair announced the measure passed and said, “We have a bill.”

Conferees acknowledged participation from multiple agencies and offices during drafting, including the Attorney General’s office, the state fire council, DLNR, DOD, DLE and DLIR, and thanked Ways and Means and Finance staff for their work on the funding analysis. No further substantive amendments or additional funding sources were identified in the public conference record.

The conference committee did not specify an effective date in the discussion on the record. Next steps, as stated during the session, include final administrative processing and any remaining procedural releases from Finance and Ways and Means required before the bill moves to enrollment and final passage.

The committee adjourned the session after confirming the vote.