SB 2380: Continuous Legislative Session; Constitutional Amendment; Constitutional Repeal

A BILL FOR AN ACT

PROPOSING AMENDMENTS TO THE HAWAII STATE CONSTITUTION TO ESTABLISH A CONTINUOUS LEGISLATIVE SESSION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that Hawaii's state legislature is in session for only sixty session days per year, generally from the middle of January until early May.

     The legislature further finds that the efficiency, productivity, and orderliness of the state legislature could be improved by requiring that the legislature be in session during every month of the year.  Requiring the legislature to call a special session to address matters outside of regular session causes inefficiencies and delays while also creating uncertainty and limiting public input.  Transitioning to a continuous legislature would allow for more proactive lawmaking and increase public engagement in the legislative process.

     Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to propose amendments to the Hawaii State Constitution to establish a continuous legislative session, beginning in January 2031.  Specifically, this Act:

     (1)  Defines each regular session to be two calendar years;

     (2)  Requires the legislature to convene on the first and third weeks of each month except for two months before a general or primary election;

     (3)  Repeals language regarding special sessions, adjournment, and recesses;

     (4)  Establishes procedures for the carry-over of bills from the first to the second year of a regular session;

     (5)  Establishes deadlines for certain bills to be submitted for gubernatorial consideration;

     (6)  Standardizes the number of days that the governor must approve or veto a bill submitted for consideration;

     (7)  Repeals the governor's ability to appoint an interim position if a vacancy occurs while the senate is not in session; and

     (8)  Establishes salaries of the members of the legislature pursuant to recommendations by the commission on salaries submitted during the 2030 regular session, unless those recommendations are amended by law.

     SECTION 2.  Article III, section 10, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii is amended to read as follows:

"SESSIONS; MEETINGS

     Section 10.  The legislature shall convene annually in regular session at 10:00 o'clock a.m. on the third Wednesday in January.  Regular sessions shall be limited to a period of two calendar years.

     [At the written request of two-thirds of the members to which each house is entitled, the presiding officers of both houses shall convene the legislature in special session.  At the written request of two-thirds of the members of the senate, the president of the senate shall convene the senate in special session for the purpose of carrying out its responsibility established by Section 3 of Article VI.  The governor may convene both houses or the senate alone in special session.

     Regular sessions shall be limited to a period of sixty days, and special sessions shall be limited to a period of thirty days.  Any session may be extended a total of not more than fifteen days.  Such extension shall be granted by the presiding officers of both houses at the written request of two-thirds of the members to which each house is entitled or may be granted by the governor.

     Each regular session shall be recessed for not less than five days at some period between the twentieth and fortieth days of the regular session.  The legislature shall determine the dates of the mandatory recess by concurrent resolution.  Any session may be recessed by concurrent resolution adopted by a majority of the members to which each house is entitled.  Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, the days in mandatory recess and any days in recess pursuant to a concurrent resolution shall be excluded in computing the number of days of any session.]

     The legislature shall meet on the first and third week and be in recess on the second and fourth week of each month; provided that the legislature shall be in recess for two months before any general or primary election.  Each house shall hold committee meetings on Monday through Thursday and a floor session on Friday of each week the legislature meets.

     All [sessions] meetings shall be held in the capital of the State.  In case the capital shall be unsafe, the governor may direct that any [session] meeting be held at some other place."

     SECTION 3.  Article III, section 12, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii is amended to read as follows:

"ORGANIZATION; DISCIPLINE; RULES; PROCEDURE

     Section 12.  Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members and shall have, for misconduct, disorderly behavior or neglect of duty of any member, power to punish [such] the member by censure or, upon a two-thirds vote of all the members to which [such] the house is entitled, by suspension or expulsion of [such] the member.  Each house shall choose its own officers, determine the rules of its proceedings and keep a journal.  The ayes and noes of the members on any question shall, at the desire of one-fifth of the members present, be entered upon the journal.

     Twenty days after a bill has been referred to a committee in either house, the bill may be recalled from [such] the committee by the affirmative vote of one-third of the members to which [such] the house is entitled.

     Every meeting of a committee in either house or of a committee comprised of a member or members from both houses held for the purpose of making decision on matters referred to the committee shall be open to the public.

     [By rule of its proceedings, applicable to both houses, each house shall provide for the date by which all bills to be considered in a regular session shall be introduced.]"

     SECTION 4.  Article III, section 15, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii is amended to read as follows:

"PASSAGE OF BILLS

     Section 15.  No bill shall become law unless it shall pass three readings in each house on separate days.  No bill shall pass third or final reading in either house unless printed copies of the bill in the form to be passed shall have been made available to the members of that house for at least forty-eight hours.

     Every bill when passed by the house in which it originated, or in which amendments thereto shall have originated, shall immediately be certified by the presiding officer and clerk and sent to the other house for consideration.

     Any bill pending at the [final adjournment of a regular session in an odd-numbered] end of a calendar year shall carry over with the same status to the next [regular session.] calendar year; provided that the next calendar year is in the same regular session; provided further that no bill shall remain pending for more than two calendar years.  Before the carried-over bill is enacted, it shall pass at least one reading in the house in which the bill originated.  The general appropriations bill or the supplemental appropriations bill for the ensuing fiscal year, as the case may be, or any other appropriations bill shall pass each house and be submitted for gubernatorial consideration no later than forty-five days before the end of the existing fiscal year.  Any bill proposing a constitutional amendment shall pass each house and be submitted for gubernatorial consideration no later than June 30 in each even‑numbered year.  Any other bill shall pass each house and be submitted for gubernatorial consideration no later than July 31 of each year.

     If the last day of the period within which the bill is required to be submitted for gubernatorial consideration falls on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, the period shall extend to the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or holiday."

     SECTION 5.  Article III, section 16, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii is amended to read as follows:

"APPROVAL OR VETO

     Section 16.  Every bill [which shall have] that has passed the legislature shall be certified by the presiding officers and clerks of both houses and shall thereupon be presented to the governor.  If the governor approves it, the governor shall sign it and it shall become law.  If the governor does not approve [such] the bill, the governor may return it, with the governor's objections to the legislature.  Except for items appropriated to be expended by the judicial and legislative branches, the governor may veto any specific item or items in any bill [which] that appropriates money for specific purposes by striking out or reducing the same; but the governor shall veto other bills, if at all, only as a whole.

     The governor shall have [ten] thirty calendar days to consider bills presented [to the governor ten or more days before the adjournment of the legislature sine die], and if any [such] bill is neither signed nor returned by the governor within that time, it shall become law in like manner as if the governor had signed it.  If the last day of the period within which the bill presented is required to be signed or returned falls on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, the period shall extend to the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or holiday.

RECONSIDERATION [AFTER ADJOURNMENT

     The governor shall have forty-five days, after the adjournment of the legislature sine die, to consider bills presented to the governor less than ten days before such adjournment, or presented after adjournment, and any such bill shall become law on the forty-fifth day unless the governor by proclamation shall have given ten days' notice to the legislature that the governor plans to return such bill with the governor's objections on that day.  The legislature may convene at or before noon on the forty-fifth day in special session, without call, for the sole purpose of acting upon any such bill returned by the governor.  In case the legislature shall fail to so convene, such bill shall not become law.]  Any [such] bill may be amended to meet the governor's objections and, if so amended and passed, only one reading being required in each house for [such] passage, it shall be presented again to the governor, but shall become law only if the governor shall sign it within ten days after presentation.  If the last day of the period within which the amended bill is required to be signed by the governor falls on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, the period shall extend to the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or holiday.

     [In computing the number of days designated in this section, the following days shall be excluded:  Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and any days in which the legislature is in recess prior to its adjournment as provided in section 10 of this article.]"

     SECTION 6.  Article V, section 6, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii is amended to read as follows:

"EXECUTIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES

AND DEPARTMENTS

     Section 6.  All executive and administrative offices, departments and instrumentalities of the state government and their respective powers and duties shall be allocated by law among and within not more than twenty principal departments in [such] a manner as to group the same according to common purposes and related functions.  Temporary commissions or agencies for special purposes may be established by law and need not be allocated within a principal department.

     Each principal department shall be under the supervision of the governor and, unless otherwise provided in this constitution or by law, shall be headed by a single executive.  [Such] The single executive shall be nominated and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appointed by the governor.  That person shall hold office for a term to expire at the end of the term for which the governor was elected, unless sooner removed by the governor; [except] provided that the removal of the chief legal officer of the State shall be subject to the advice and consent of the senate.

     Except as otherwise provided in this constitution, whenever a board, commission or other body shall be the head of a principal department of the state government, the members thereof shall be nominated and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appointed by the governor.  The term of office and removal of such members shall be as provided by law.  [Such] The board, commission or other body may appoint a principal executive officer who, when authorized by law, may be an ex officio, voting member thereof, and who may be removed by a majority vote of the members appointed by the governor.

     The governor shall nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appoint all officers for whose election or appointment provision is not otherwise provided for by this constitution or by law.  If the manner of removal of an officer is not prescribed in this constitution, removal shall be as provided by law.

     [When the senate is not in session and a vacancy occurs in any office, appointment to which requires the confirmation of the senate, the governor may fill the office by granting a commission which shall expire, unless such appointment is confirmed, at the end of the next session of the senate.  The person so appointed shall not be eligible for another interim appointment to such office if the appointment failed to be confirmed by the senate.

     No person who has been nominated for appointment to any office and whose appointment has not received the consent of the senate shall be eligible to an interim appointment thereafter to such office.]

     Every officer appointed under the provisions of this section shall be a citizen of the United States and shall have been a resident of this State for at least one year immediately preceding that person's appointment[, except]; provided that this residency requirement shall not apply to the president of the University of Hawaii."

     SECTION 7.  Article XVI, section 3.5, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii is amended to read as follows:

"SALARY COMMISSION

     Section [[]3.5[]].  There shall be a commission on salaries as provided by law, which shall review and recommend salaries for the justices and judges of all state courts, members of the legislature, department heads or executive officers of the executive departments and the deputies or assistants to department heads of the executive departments as provided by law, excluding the University of Hawaii and the department of education.  The commission shall also review and make recommendations for the salary of the administrative director of the State or equivalent position and the salary of the governor and the lieutenant governor.

     Any salary established pursuant to this section shall not be decreased during a term of office, unless by general law applying to all salaried officers of the State.

     Not later than the fortieth legislative day of the 2007 regular legislative session and every six years thereafter, the commission shall submit to the legislature its recommendations and then dissolve.

     The recommended salaries submitted shall become effective as provided in the recommendation, unless the legislature disapproves the entire recommendation as a whole by adoption of a concurrent resolution prior to adjournment sine die of the legislative session in which the recommendation is submitted; provided that any change in salary which becomes effective shall not apply to the legislature to which the recommendation for the change in salary was submitted.

     Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section, the commission on salaries shall convene no later than the month of November 2029 for the sole purpose of making recommendations for the salaries of the members of the legislature, to take effect from January 1, 2031, to December 31, 2034.  Members of the commission shall be appointed in the same manner that members are normally appointed as provided by law.  No later than the fortieth legislative day of the 2030 regular legislative session, the commission shall submit to the legislature its recommendations and shall then dissolve.  The recommended salaries submitted shall become effective as provided in the recommendation, unless amended by law."

     SECTION 8.  Article III, section 11, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii is repealed.

["ADJOURNMENT

     Section 11.  Neither house shall adjourn during any session of the legislature for more than three days, or sine die, without the consent of the other."]

     SECTION 9.  The question to be printed on the ballot shall be as follows:

     "Shall the legislature meet continuously throughout the year, beginning in January 2031, with legislators serving full-time and bills being subject to a two-year deadline?"

     SECTION 10.  Constitutional material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New constitutional material is underscored.

     SECTION 11.  These amendments shall take effect upon compliance with article XVII, section 3, of the Constitution of the State of Hawaii during the 2028 general election; provided that sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 shall take effect on January 1, 2031.

Report Title:

Continuous Legislative Session; Constitutional Amendment; Constitutional Repeal

Description:

Establishes a continuous Legislature beginning in January 2031.  Defines each regular session to be two calendar years.  Requires the Legislature to convene on the first and third weeks of each month except for two months before a general or primary election.  Repeals language regarding special sessions, adjournment, and recesses.  Establishes procedures for the carry-over of bills from the first to the second year of a regular session.  Establishes deadlines for certain bills to be submitted for gubernatorial consideration.  Standardizes the number of days that the Governor must approve or veto a bill submitted for consideration.  Repeals the Governor's ability to appoint an interim position if a vacancy occurs while the Senate is not in session.  Establishes salaries of the members of the Legislature pursuant to recommendations by the Commission on Salaries submitted during the 2030 regular session, unless those recommendations are amended by law.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2155

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:     S.B. No. 2380

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2380 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT PROPOSING AMENDMENTS TO THE HAWAII STATE CONSTITUTION TO ESTABLISH A CONTINUOUS LEGISLATIVE SESSION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to propose amendments to the Hawaii State Constitution to establish a continuous legislative session, beginning in January 2031.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Outdoor Circle, Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action, Imua Alliance, and four individuals.

     Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

     Your Committee finds that the Legislature is in session for only sixty session days per year, generally from the middle of January until early May.  In the past several years, the State has experienced several emergency crises that highlight the need for faster or more flexible responses, including the Red Hill fuel leak, COVID-19, and the 2023 Maui wildfires.  Your Committee further finds that thousands of bills are introduced each year.  However, many do not receive full consideration under the existing framework, with more than half of all legislation introduced at the beginning of each regular session being deferred or not scheduled for a hearing.  The amendments proposed by this measure will allow the Legislature to be more flexible to meet the needs of the State while also improving the Legislature's efficiency and productivity.

     Your Committee notes that during the hearing on this measure, one of your Committee's members moved to amend this measure to require the Legislature's meetings be held in each of the twenty‑five senatorial districts, rather than exclusively at the Hawaii State Capitol.  This motion was seconded by another member of your Committee, but the motion failed upon the vote of the full Committee membership.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2380 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,