Committee advances multiple water‑and‑land bills with amendments; several items deferred to later dates

During a long session on Feb. 5, 2026, the House Committee on Water & Land considered and acted on a broad slate of bills. The chair summarized committee recommendations and put multiple items to a vote; several passed with committee amendments or HD1s and deferred effective dates.

Notable committee actions included: passing HB1823 (coastal zone management) with DLNR and Office of Planning technical amendments; advancing HB2490 (coastal resilience pilot) with an HD1 and converting mandatory waivers to discretionary authority for DLNR; advancing HP2223 (historic‑preservation reviews) with HD1 to refine MOA/delegation language; advancing HB2325 (civil‑service exemptions) with technical amendments; advancing HB2104 (Island Burial Councils) with HD1 and referrals to Judiciary; and advancing HB2592/HB2593 (Mauna Kea governance/lease timing) with committee amendments and AG‑recommended clarifications.

The chair repeatedly noted that the committee would “defect” (defer) effective dates to a placeholder (07/01/3000) to keep measures alive for conference and to permit technical edits. Several members recorded reservations on specific bills in the roll calls reported from the dais.

Where recorded, committee votes were taken by roll call and the chair’s recommendations were adopted for the measures noted above; specific numerical tallies were not always listed in the transcript and will appear in the formal committee report published by staff.

The committee adjourned after recording the adopted recommendations and scheduling next‑step actions for bills that advanced.