House passes broad package of Senate bills; extended floor debate on OHA land inventory, cruise-ship TAT and juvenile fines

The Hawaii House of Representatives adopted a large package of Senate bills on both the consent and ordinary calendars Tuesday, after brief and extended floor debates on several high-profile measures including a public land-trust inventory affecting the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, an expansion of the transient accommodations tax (TAT) to some cruise-ship activity, and a proposal to eliminate fines and fees for juvenile offenders.

Members first approved a motion to disagree with certain Senate amendments and then suspended the House rules to consider a list of Senate bills for third reading on the consent calendar. Representative Todd moved the disagreement-to-amendments motion, and Representative Morikawa seconded it; the motion carried on a voice vote. The House later adopted standing committee reports and passed the listed Senate bills on third reading with recorded exceptions noted on the floor.

Why it matters: The measures advanced Tuesday touch a range of state priorities — native Hawaiian land accounting, visitors' taxes and conservation funding, juvenile justice reform, housing approvals, water-protection rules and changes to executive or administrative hiring authority. Several measures drew sustained floor discussion and will go to conference committees or further review, while dozens of other bills passed with only brief floor action.

Floor debate and key topics

Office of Hawaiian Affairs and public land trust inventory Representative Shimizu voiced reservations about parts of a bill she said “is all about our native Hawaiian community through the Office of Hawaiian Affairs,” and relayed objections OHA made in testimony, including requests for clearer payment terms and parity on a public land trust working group. Shimizu said she opposed the bill as drafted because of those unresolved concerns but urged continued work in conference committee to resolve them.

“Because of the seriousness and weight of this critically important study and report, the tasking of the Legislative Reference Bureau to retain independent third party professionals for the working group should be tasked to budget and finance,” Shimizu said on the floor.

Supporters, including multiple members of the native Hawaiian caucus, said the bill was a step toward establishing an inventory of ceded lands that could inform mandated payments to OHA and urged conference negotiations to address OHA’s concerns.

Transient accommodations tax and cruise ships Lawmakers debated a proposal to broaden TAT application that would, in part, subject certain cruise-ship activity to the tax. Supporters argued the change creates parity across tourism sectors and would direct revenue toward conservation and stewardship of natural resources used in tourism. Representative proponents said not taxing cruise-ship passengers or activity created a kind of preferential treatment.

Opponents raised concerns about unspecified increases in the TAT rate, potential harm to a tourism-dependent economy and constitutional questions about taxing vessels. Representative Shimizu said she opposed the bill’s overall proposed TAT increase while acknowledging the “innovative” idea of applying TAT principles to cruise-ship activity.

Juvenile fines and fees A bill to prohibit assessment of some fines and fees against juvenile offenders drew extended floor remarks. Supporters argued fines and fees disproportionately affect low‑income youth and create barriers to rehabilitation. Representative Souza cited academic research arguing fines and fees increase recidivism and disproportionately burden youth of color and poor families.

Opponents, including judges’ supporters, urged preserving judicial discretion to assess fees in particular cases. Representative Shimizu said she opposed the bill because experienced judges should retain discretion to decide whether to assess fees.

Water protection and landfill siting Members debated a bill tied to protecting drinking water and agricultural soils from leachate from landfills. Supporters said line-based mapping (an “underground injection control line”) gives clearer GIS-based boundaries for regulators; opponents, including some county officials and the Department of Health as reported in testimony, warned the restrictions could eliminate viable landfill siting options and force expansions of existing sites. Representative Martin urged basing law on environmental factors rather than map-technology artifacts.

Other debated issues - Housing and 201H projects: Some members supported expediting workforce housing and limiting duplicative county-level conditions that increase project costs; others raised concerns that removing county discretion could reduce community protections and affordable-unit outcomes. Representative Grandinetti and others expressed reservations about narrowing county review authority. - Landlord-tenant working group: A bill directing the judiciary to convene a working group to revisit the residential landlord‑tenant code prompted calls to ensure balanced tenant representation alongside landlord stakeholders. - Energy wheeling and the Public Utilities Commission: Members debated whether the Legislature should act on intra-governmental wheeling or allow the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) — which already has an open docket on wheeling — to resolve the issue. Representative Lowen noted repeated hearing testimony over many years that “there's ongoing dockets on this,” and argued sometimes legislative action is needed when dockets do not resolve issues.

Votes at a glance (floor actions reported on the record) - Motion to disagree to Senate amendments: moved by Representative Todd, seconded by Representative Morikawa — carried (voice vote). - Motion to suspend the rules to consider Senate bills for third reading by consent calendar: moved by Representative Morikawa, seconded by Representative Garcia — carried (voice vote). - Adoption of standing committee reports and passage of many Senate bills on third reading (consent and ordinary calendars): motions moved by Representative Todd and seconded by Representative Morikawa; House Clerk recorded a series of “all majority members vote aye with the exception of the following” statements describing specific no votes on particular Stancom/SB entries (examples below). Said Senate bills passed third reading. - On the consent calendar (pages 1–8), the clerk recorded no votes on specific items: e.g., for Stancom report 1999 (SB 328, SD1, HD2) Representative Amato and Representative Iwo Moto voted no; for Stancom report 1946 (SB 1464, HD1) Representative Iwamoto voted no. (Clerk’s floor announcements list many additional ledgered no votes for individual items; the bills otherwise passed third reading.) - On ordinary calendar items, the clerk recorded additional member no votes for named Stancom reports and SB numbers; the floor minutes show the clerk reading those exceptions before declaring the Senate bills passed third reading. - Motion to adjourn until 12:00 noon Thursday: moved by Representative Morikawa, seconded by Representative Garcia — carried (voice vote).

What’s next Several measures that drew substantial floor debate are likely to go to conference committees or to be further negotiated in staff and committee work before final enactment. Other bills passed final third reading and will proceed along the legislative process as recorded.

Ending note The session roster showed 48 members present and two excused at roll call. Members were reminded to file any written comments on consent‑calendar measures with the clerk by adjournment of today’s floor session.