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Senate panels approve amended bill to create state fire marshal selection commission
Summary
On March 14, 2025, joint Senate committees voted to pass with amendments House Bill 1064, House Draft 2, to establish a state fire marshal selection commission that would change appointment processes and clarify the state fire marshal’s role following recommendations from the Fire Safety Research Institute’s August 2023 Maui wildfires report.
On March 14, 2025, the Hawaii Senate committees on Public Safety and Military Affairs and on Labor and Technology voted to pass with amendments House Bill 1064, House Draft 2, a measure to create a state fire marshal selection commission and clarify the state fire marshal’s role.
The bill implements recommendations from the Fire Safety Research Institute’s Phase 3 forward-looking report on the August 2023 Maui wildfires and would authorize a seven-member commission to appoint and remove the state fire marshal, receive citizen complaints about the office, and conduct annual performance reviews.
Committee members said the measure is intended to separate the selection process from the governor’s office and align future selection procedures with county-level practice. Will Kane, Senior Adviser, Office of the Governor, told the committee the governor’s office would not oppose establishing a selection commission and said, “I don't I don't I don't think that'd be a problem at all. I think it's a it's a good way to kind of bifurcate the process a little bit and have, other folks weigh in.”
Under the committees’ adopted amendments, the selection commission would be established beginning on 01/01/2026, subject to the committees’ changes described on the record. The commission would be attached to the state Department of Defense for administrative purposes, post agendas and minutes on a website, be subject to Hawaii’s sunshine law (HRS chapter 92), and may adopt administrative rules.
The commission’s membership as amended would total seven people: three voting members appointed by the governor subject to advice and consent of the Hawaii State Senate; one voting member appointed by the Speaker of the House; one voting member appointed by the President of the Senate; the chair of the Hawaii State Fire Council (or designee) as a nonvoting member; and the Adjutant General of the Hawaii National Guard (or designee) as a nonvoting member. For initial staggering, the three governor-appointed members would serve initial terms of one, two and three years respectively; other appointed members would start with four-year initial terms. Thereafter, members could serve up to two consecutive four-year terms (up to eight years). Members would serve without compensation but be reimbursed for necessary expenses, including travel.
The committee record indicates that the attorney general’s proposed amendments were accepted except for one specific change (page 2, item 2 of the AG’s suggested amendments), and that the Hawaii Insurance Council’s proposed amendments were accepted as presented. Committee members also stated that the selection commission is not intended to duplicate the Hawaii State Fire Council’s roles and that it would apply to subsequent state fire marshal selections, not the initial selection already underway.
The committees recorded a series of technical changes and deletions to draft pages and lines as part of the adopted amendment package. The committees also recorded two dates on the record that appear inconsistent: the bill text as described would establish the commission beginning 01/01/2026, the committees also recorded that “this section will dissolve on 01/01/2026,” and the chair announced an amendment changing the effective date to 07/01/2077. Those dates were stated on the record as shown; the transcript does not reconcile the differences.
Decision-making votes were recorded separately in each committee. For the Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, the chair recorded an aye vote and Senators Fukunaga, Rose and Descartes each registered “aye,” and the chair declared the recommendation adopted. For the Labor and Technology Committee, the chair recorded an aye vote, Vice Chair Lee voted “aye,” Senator Milwaukee voted “aye,” Senator Fevella voted “aye,” and Senator Ibarra was listed as excused; the recommendation was recorded as adopted. The joint hearing then adjourned.
The committees’ action sends the amended bill forward in the legislative process per the committees' procedures; the transcript does not record subsequent floor action or final enactment steps.
