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Joint committees advance amendment to fold ABLE savings into Hawaii college savings bill
Summary
The Joint Committee on Higher Education and the House Committee on Education voted to pass House Bill 707 with an HD1 amendment that adds Hawaii's ABLE accounts to the bill's stated purpose after Attorney General guidance and a staff-drafted HD1 were circulated.
The Joint Committee on Higher Education and the House Committee on Education voted Feb. 11 to pass House Bill 707 with amendments to expand the bill’s purpose to include Hawaii Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) accounts alongside Hawaii 529 college savings accounts.
Committee leaders said they had consulted the state Department of the Attorney General after advocates asked that ABLE accounts be folded into the college savings program bill. According to the committee record, the AG referenced the 1977 case Schwab v. Ariyoshi as guidance that a “clear logical connection” is needed for a bill title to encompass additional programmatic language; staff were advised the connection existed and circulated an HD1 reflecting the change.
Under the approved HD1, the bill’s purpose section was expanded so that subsection (a) covers Hawaii 529 accounts through the college savings program and a new subsection (b) covers accounts through the Hawaii ABLE program. The committee also added a defective effective date of July 1, 3000 to allow for further drafting discussions and made non-substantive technical edits for clarity and style.
Representative testimony and roll-call voting were recorded in both committees. In the Joint Higher Education panel, the chair announced the recommendation to pass with amendments and members recorded their votes as “aye” or noted excused absences; the Education panel recorded the same recommendation and a similar roll call.
The bill will move forward with the HD1 language that explicitly references ABLE accounts in the measure’s purpose.
Ending: The committees adopted the amended HD1 and forwarded the bill. The defective effective date indicates sponsors expect further technical clean-up before any normal effective-date language is finalized.
