Conference Committee

Convening our Conference Committee Thursday, April 2420251:30pm in Conference Room 016 on House Bills 1296, House Bill 1064 and Senate Bill 104. Chair Elefante, I believe we do not have quorum for two of the bills. So if we can open up. On House Bill 1064, House Draft 2, Senate Draft 2 first.

Yep, that's fine.

On our side, it's myself, Representatives Tarnis, Lamasaw as co chairs, Representatives Ichiyama and Suza as managers. Representatives Ichiyama and Lamasaw. Our President Tarnas and Souza are excused.

Okay, thank you. Chair. On behalf of the Senate is Senator LaFonte. As Chair, Co chairs are Aquino, Lee and Rhodes and Members Wakai and the Court Chair.

We passed across each Senate draft one yesterday. I wanted to pass across another one to you. And again, hot off the presses. Great work by our HMSO staff. Just to summarize, what this Bill does is it does identify placement of the Office of the State Fire Marshal in the Department of Land Law Enforcement.

It changes from authorized or mandating to making it discretionary for the office to be able to set up a community reductions fuel program.

And then there's clarifications on the appropriations language calling for one FTE blank appropriations for the fire marshal, two FTEs blank appropriations for the two deputy state fire marshals and three FTEs for administrative assistance, blank appropriation for. For the office. Chair, I really appreciate the work, hard work being done on this. I will share that.

You know, placement with the law enforcement Department is a little bit concerning just because we have so much, we have so much that we're placing on them. Potentially this session with the fireworks with possibly ag theft, I'm not keeping track of that completely.

So I'm very, very concerned that we need to make sure that they are sufficiently staffed, hence the blank appropriations. And I hope that we can ensure that they are sufficiently staffed if they're going to be doing all of these very important tasks that we want them to do.

So with that, Senator, just wanted to pass it over to you. And I know we still need to fill out memos and do all those types of. But I'm hoping for your positive consideration.

Okay. Yeah. And thank you, Chair, for your hard work on this. We'll take a look at that. I do appreciate you including the Department of Law Enforcement and filling in the blank for the attached agency. We'll circulate that to our Members. I know you just sent a digital copy today.

So we'll circulate that after this meeting to our Members, and if we're good with that and we have agreement on that, then we can request for Wham and fin release.

Perfect. Do we.

So you want to roll over till tomorrow? Yes.

Yes. If we can roll over to Friday, April 242025. 25Th. 25Th. 25th. Yes, the 25th. Do you want to put 130? 130 is good.

That's fine. 130 in this room?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay.

And then do you have quorum on the other measures chair on 104 or 1296? We have. We have quorum on our end on 104, but you have six Members, so you need one more.

Could we just recess? I understand that there are a number of Members who are running around upstairs voting.

You have Coromon. Yeah. You made a quorum call on. On both of that?

Yes, we have quorum calls on both of those.

Yeah. Okay, so we'll recess.

Brief recess? Yes, brief recess.

Foreign.

Thank you for your patience. We're reconvening our 1:30 p.m. reconvene agenda. We were in recess. Chair, if you don't mind. We do have quorum now on SB104, SD2, House Draft 3 relating to corrections.

We also have quorum as well.

Okay. And we did pass across a proposed CD that you have received yesterday. And if we're good with that, I believe our wam doesn't need. Do we have release on this? We do have release on our end.

We have release on our end. I believe so. And on our side, we have myself, Representative Tarnas, Lamasao, co Chairs, Representative Hashem and Souza present and Representative Iwamoto excused.

Okay. I'm sorry I missed that. Thank you for catching that. On behalf of the Senate, is Senator Elefante as Chair. Co Chair, Senator Rhodes, Moriwaki, and Members Fukunaga and Fevella. Okay, so with that, if we're good, can I.

We need to on our end, describe what's in this Bill. This is our solitary confinement bill. That makes it. The bill is effective July 1, 2025 with the working group to be convened on August 1, 2025 with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations to do reports by December 1, 2025 and December 1, 2026.

The effective date for the substantive portions of this bill will be effective July 1, 2026. And there will be a working group that will be convened on August 1, 2025. So those are the sub. The big changes in this bill. Chair and it's. The footer is 2025-2776 SB104 CD1 SMA-2DOCX.

Yep. And that's the correct footer we have on that. And thank you for the explanation. And thank you so much, Chair for your hard work and all the Members on their hard work on this and the advocates as well. So with that, may we proceed to the vote?

Absolutely.

The Members were voting to recommend that we pass CD1. This is on SB104, Senate Draft 2, House Draft 3. [Roll Call] May I take the vote for the House?

Please.

Okay. [Roll Call] Hey, we have a bill.

We have a bill. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Chair, if we may recess so we can get quorum for the last bill on our agenda. If that's okay with you.

Yes, let's recess for our hospital. 1296.

Okay. Recess subject to the call of the Chairs.

Reconvening our conference Committee on House Bill 1296. House draft one. Senate draft one. Here for the House we have myself, Representative Lamosao as Co-Chair, Representatives Morikawa and Souza as managers. Representative Iwamoto excused.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And on behalf of the Senate is myself, Senator Elefante as chair. Co-Chair Hashimoto, Members Wakai and the court. And I just want to thank you and your Members really appreciate. Appreciate you waiting. Thank you Members for being here.

Thank you, Chair. So we have a CD1 that we circulated to sue the conferees on the major disaster Fund. And what this does is adds transparency for the major disaster Fund with the reporting to come from the Governor and the administrator of HIEMA.

Yes. And if we shared the correct CD that you have on the footer.

Yes. Footer 2025-3418 House Bill 1296 CD1 HMSO proposed.

Okay. Yep.

With that. Chairs, may I take the vote?

Yes. Do we have wham Release?

Oh, do we have been release? Hey. Taking the vote for the House. I vote aye. Co-Chair Lamosao, Representative Iwamoto is excused. Manager Morikawa aye. And Manager Kani, Manager Souza. Hi. I'm going to take the vote. Senator.

Yes, please.

Senator Elefante.

Aye.

Senator Hashimoto, Senator Wakai, Senator DeCourte. We have a bill. Thank you.

We have a bill. Yes. Great work, Chair.

Great work. And we'll see you tomorrow.

Welcome to the House Committee. Welcome to the conference Committee between the House and the Senate. Thank you, Senators, for being here and House Members for being here. It's Thursday, April 24th, 1:30pm here in Conference Room 325. First up is House Bill 1091. House Draft 1. Senate Draft 1. Relating to sewer transmission. Relating to sewer transmission lines.

For the House, we have co chairs Tarnas and Kitagawa, Managers Holt, Poepo and Shimizu.

Thank you. And on the Senate side we have myself as chair, Senators Decoy Chang and Keohokalole as co chairs, and Senator Favella.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair. So this measure is one that requires a county to accept within 60 days after receipt of a completed application for maintenance request, license or dedication of sewer transmission lines and related sewage sewerage facilities servicing Hawaiian Homelands that are brought into compliance by the Department of Hawaiian Homelands.

Something that the Department of Hawaiian Homelands has been asking for. And I think that we have agreement on language for the bill. And so if it's amenable to you, I'd like to move forward and vote on it. We do have released from thin.

Thank you. And we do have agreement of language and we have release from Wham as well.

Excellent.

Okay, then I'd like to move forward with a vote.

I know I'm moving as fast as I can. Okay. House Bill 1091. House Draft 1. Senate Draft 1. Recommendation of the House and Senate managers is to pass with amendments. Chair Tarnas votes aye. Co-Chair Kitagawa. Representative Holt, Excused. Representative Poepoe.

Aye.

Representative Shimizu, Aye. May I take vote for the Senate, please? Chair Richards. Aye. Co-Chair DeCoite.

Aye.

Co-Chair Chang. Senator Keahokolole. Thank you. And Senator Favella is excused. Thank you. We have a bill.

Yay. Thank you, Chair. Someone ready to move on?

Let me just finish this and give it to you to. Oops. Sorry. Okay, the next one is a Senate Bill, so it's all yours.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Moving on, Senate Bill 903, SD 2, HD 2. On the Senate side, we have Senator Richards as chair, Hashimoto, co-chair, and Keohokalole and DeCorte, Members.

Thank you. On behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Yamashita as co-chairs, Holt, Poepoe, and Garcia as members.

Thank you. Chair, we do not have a CD that is going to work for—between the two chambers. So, I'm going to defer this indefinitely.

If that's what we need to do, that's what we need to do. I think this is an issue that we need to continue working on. I think we do have to recognize that there is an existing mechanism within Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the working group to do the Public Land Trust inventory.

Correct.

And I think we need to do everything we can in our positions as chairs of the relevant committees to support that effort.

Wholeheartedly agree. And so, we need to do that work on that interim and come back next session to fix anything that we might need to do.

I agree. Okay. Great. So, let—I, I would have to agree with you that we'll have to defer this measure.

Okay. Thank you very much, Chair.

Okay. Nothing further before this Committee, we are adjourned.

Thank you.

Hello and good afternoon. We are reconvening the conference committee from earlier today, the 11:05 agenda, with the House Committee on Energy, Environmental Protection, and Senate Ag and Environmental Committee on this measure, SB 1298, SD 2, HD 2. For the Senate, myself as chair, Hashimoto, co-chairm Keahokalole is here, DeCoite, Richards, and Fevella as members.

On behalf of the House, myself, co-chair Matayoshi, and managers Quinlan and Pierick.

Okay. And so, for this measure, we do have agreement, I believe.

And the description expands the types of electronic devices subject to the Electronic Device Recycling and Recovering Act to include electronic device peripherals and certain legacy devices. Excludes manufacturers of only electronic device peripherals and no other electronic devices. Allows rather than requires the Department of Health to determine additional penalties and impose certain fines. Requires manufacturers' recycling plans to describe communication efforts with the state and counties to facilitate consumer education efforts.

Repeals the requirement that recycling plans be implemented and fully operated by January 1st, 2023, in order for manufacturer collaboration authority to apply. Extends manufacturer recycling goals to 2027.

Requires additional information to be included in manufacturers' reports containing information for calendar years 2025, 2026, and 2027. Requires collectors to report certain information regarding recyclers and refurbishers and allows the Department of Health to require submission of bills of lading and recycler receiving reports. And I think that we do have agreement.

And Chair, you've been working on a CD 1, so I'll let you read the amendments.

I think you just read most of the amendments. Actually, that covered that covered what's in the Bill currently. Changes from the HD 2, it adopts most of what's in the HD 2.

I think one of the changes which I think you addressed because you didn't read it out, is that we are maintaining the shell for the fines to be imposed on manufacturers not meeting their goals and affecting the date to, to July 1st, 2025.

Okay. All right, so if it's okay, I'll take the vote for the Senate. We'll start off. Chair votes aye.

[Roll Call]

All right.

And with that, we will adjourn this conference committee.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. I'd like to call to order the joint House and Senate Conference Committee hearing for Thursday, April 24th. We are in room 325 and we're on the 2 o' clock agenda and it's currently 2:03. We have one item on the agenda, HB606HD1SD1 relating to the Department of Hawaiian Homelands.

On behalf of the House, we have myself, Representatives Poepoe and Miyake as co-chairs, and Representatives Grandinetti and Muraoka as managers.

Thank you. And on the Senate side, we have Senator Richards, myself, as chair, Chang and Hashimoto as co-chair, DeCorte as Member.

And looks like we are still working on this and ultimately, we'll need FIN/WAM release. So, if it's agreeable to you, Senator, if we could roll this over to 1:30 tomorrow in this room, room 325.

Thank you very much.

Okay. Seeing no further business, this hearing is adjourned.

Welcome to the conference committee of the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. It's Thursday, April 24th. It's a 2:00 PM agenda, but it's just 2:08. And we're here in Conference Room 325, State Capitol. And we're considering one measure, House Bill 127, House Draft 1, Senate Draft 1, relating to pretrial release.

On behalf of the House, we have Tarnas as chair and Members Poepoe and Garcia.

Thank you. For the Senate, myself as chair, Senators Chang and San Buenaventura as managers.

Thank you. This is an important Bill, but we have to get it right and we're not there. I know we've tried a number of different ways to approach this, which is basically requiring bail to be set in an amount that the defendant can afford based on certain factors. But it's complicated, so we need to—I'd like to give it a little bit more time.

Fair enough.

And if it's okay with you, let's reconvene this at 5:15 PM today, Thursday, April 24th, here in conference room 325 and see what do we can do.

I agree.

Okay, thanks. That's what we're going to do. Nothing further for us today. We are adjourned.

All right. Welcome everyone to this conference committee. This is mainly between—maybe exclusively between Senate Judiciary Committee and House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee. First up on this agenda, our 2:15 agenda, is Senate Bill 304, relating the Judiciary appropriates funds for Adult Client Services Branch in the First Circuit.

For the Senate, it's myself as chair, co-chair Senator Inouye, and manager Awa.

Thank you. On behalf of the House, Tarnas and Kitagawa as co-chairs, Belatti and Shimizu as members.

I believe we're in agreement on this.

We are.

And we do have WAM release.

We do. Happy day.

And I will.

This is significant. I really appreciate that we're able to move this forward.

We will—this appropriates a number of positions for the eight full-time probation officers. One full-time. These are equivalents. One full time equivalent, Social Worker Assistant position, one. Two full-time Clerk positions. And the total appropriation that has been allotted is $879,440 for fiscal '26 and 800—the same amount—for fiscal '27. And the—this is all in the Adult Services Branch of the First Circuit Court here on Oahu.

And these are A Funds.

And these are A Funds, yes.

Yes. We have agreement and we have release.

All righty. I'll take the vote. I'll vote yes.

[Roll Call]

Excellent. Yay.

Congratulations.

Thank you. This is big. Thank you, Senator Inouye. Thank you, Representative Kitagawa.

Oops, sorry, Representative. I doubt I could do that again if I tried. But I'll try next time and see if I can.

But if it was a basketball, he could have done it right there.

Thank you. Yes. Okay. Next measure is a House Bill. House Bill 126, House Draft 1, Senate Draft 2, relating to property forfeiture. On behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co-chairs. Shimizu as member.

For the Senate, it's myself as Chair, Senator Kanuha as co-chair, and Fevella as manager.

Thank you. On this, we have, we have—we don't have release on this. Thank you for working on it. We've got a CD 1 that I think you and I are in agreement on, and we have requested FIN release. We have not received it.

Likewise, we've requested WAM release and not heard back yet.

Okay, so let's reconvene on this. We can do tomorrow. Does 2:15 work for you tomorrow?

I think that should be all right. Yep.

Okay, so let's reconvene on House Bill 126 at 2:15 tomorrow. That will be Friday, April 25th, here in Conference Room 325.

Okay.

Next Bill, House Bill 134, HD 1, SD 1, relating to elections. On behalf of the House, we Have Tarnas, Kitagawa as co-chairs, Matsumoto as member.

For the Senate, myself as chair, Senator Kim as co-chair, and manager, Fevella.

Thank you. On this measure, we have agreement on the measure itself. We've requested FIN release. Have not received it.

Yep, same here.

Same. Let's reconvene on this tomorrow, Friday, April 25th, 2:15 PM, here in conference room 325.

Agreed.

Okay, thank you. Moving on to House Bill 369, Senate Draft 1, related to campaign contributions. On behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co-chairs and Garcia as member.

For the Senate, myself as chair, Senator Hashimoto as co-chair, and Fevella as manager.

Thank you. On this, lots of people are working on trying to—oh, no, this is one where if you get more than $100 in cash from somebody, if you don't return it, then the Bill would make it escheat to the Election Fund. We've requested FIN release and have not received it.

I think we have agreement on the language, so we're just waiting FIN release.

Same. Yep.

Okay, so let's reconvene on this tomorrow, Friday, April 25th, 2:15 PM, here in Conference Room 325.

Okay, thank you.

House Bill 370, relating to partial public financing of elections. On behalf of the House, Tarnas and Kitagawa as co-chairs, Garcia as member.

For the Senate, it's myself as chair, Hashimoto's co-chair, Fevella's manager.

Thank you. We have reached agreement on the language of the Bill. We've requested FIN release and have not received it at this point. You in the same situation with Ways and Means?

Same situation.

Okay, let's reconvene on this tomorrow, give it some more time and let's hope for the best.

Okay, so tomorrow let's reconvene at Friday, April 25th, 2:15 p.m. here in Conference Room 325. Okay, thank you. House Bill 371 relating to campaign contributions. This is the contractor campaign contribution ban on behalf of the House, Tarnas and Kitagawa as co Chairs, Poepoe and Garcia.

As Members for the Senate, myself as Chair, Hashimoto co Chair, Fevella as manager.

Thank you on this one. There are lots of people trying to work on this bill and there's a conference draft, initial conference draft that was floated both Senate. The two of us have looked at it. I think other interested Members of the House and Senate are looking at it. We have not received.

We have not come to full agreement on it. But I still want to give it some time. So I'D like to reconvene on this tomorrow at 2:15 p.m. here in conference room 325. That would be Friday, April 25th, if you're okay with that.

I'm okay with that. I would just add it. I think that we're actually very close to an agreement.

Yep, we are. Yes, we are very close. But we're not there. We're not quite, quite yet. And so let's try, let's. Let's meet again tomorrow 2:15 p.m. here in conference room 325 Friday, April 25th and let's see if we can get this cross finish line. Agreed. Okay.

Okay. Last measure: House Bill 395, relating to jury duty. On behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co-chairs, Belatti and Garcia as members.

For the Senate, myself as chair, Moriwaki, co-chair, Awa as manager.

Thank you. On this one, we have agreement on the language, but I have not received--and I've requested release but I have not gotten release from Finance Committee.

Same with WAM.

Same with you. Let's reconvene on this tomorrow, 2:15 p.m. Friday, April 25th, here in Conference Room 325.

Okay.

Okay. That's it for this agenda. We are adjourned.

Thank you.

One.

Welcome to the conference Committee meeting that we're reconvening to consider numerous measures. It is Thursday, April 243:30pm here in Conference Room 325. And first up, we have House Bill 472 HD 1 SD 2 relating to digital identification. On behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co Chairs, Lee and Garcia as Members.

And on behalf of the Senate is Senator Elefante as Chair, co Chairs Keohokalole, Gabbard and Members Fukunaga and DeCorte.

Okay. On this measure we have agreement on the contents. We just need release from Finance, which I have not received yet. And I apologize for the delay, but if it's okay with you, I'd like to reconvene on this tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. that will be April 25th here in conference room 325.

Yep, that works for us.

Yep. That works for us.

Okay, thank you. Next measure: House Bill 550, relating to fireworks. On this measure, on behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co-chairs, Shimizu as member.

On behalf of the Senate: Senator Elefante as chair, Co-Chair Senator Rhoads and Kim, Members Wakai and Fevella.

Thank you. On this measure, I think we have agreement on the content of the measure, but I am awaiting Finance release. I don't know if you have WAM release.

We don't have any WAM release, so we're awaiting that too.

So I'd like to reconvene on this measure tomorrow at 3:30 p.m., Room 325, and that will be Friday, April 25th.

Yep, that works for us. Thank you.

Thanks. Okay, House Bill 1045: making emergency appropriations for law enforcement personnel costs. On behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co-chair, Shimizu as member.

And on behalf of the Senate: Senator Elefante as chair, Co-Chair Moriwaki, Members Fukunaga and DeCorte.

Thank you. We have agreement on the measure between the two of us, but we're still awaiting release from Finance. I don't know what--how you are on WAM.

We haven't heard anything from Ways and Means.

Okay, so let's reconvene on this measure as well, tomorrow, 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 25th in Room 325.

Yep, that works for us. Thank you.

Thanks. Final measure on this agenda: House Bill 1483 House Draft 1 Senate Draft 1, relating to fireworks. On behalf of the House, we have Tarnas and Kitagawa as co-chair, Shimizu as member.

And on behalf of the Senate: Senator Elefante as chair, Co-Chairs Rhoads and Kim, Members Wakai and Fevella.

On this, it's the same situation. We have agreement between us, but we're waiting on release from Finance Committee. Do you have the same situation with Ways and Means?

We have release on this. No--we don't have Ways and Means.

Okay, so we're still awaiting release from both of the money committees from the House and Senate. Let's reconvene on this tomorrow and give it a little more time and hope for the best. So reconvene at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, April 25th, in Room 325.

3:30 p.m. Okay, thanks very much. No further business before us. We are adjourned.

Yep. That works for us.

Okay. Welcome, everyone, to the conference Committee on Senate Bill 694 relating to the detention of minors. And for the Senate, myself as Chair, and Senators Gabbard and Fevella as managers.

Thank you. On behalf of the House, we have myself, Chair Tarnas as Chair, and Representatives Belatti and Garcia as managers.

Okay. This bill prohibits minors from being held in jails, lockups, or prisons for adults, except temporarily under certain circumstances.

I believe we have exchanged or passed over a CD1 proposed conference draft, one which a essentially accepts the HD1, but puts back in the repeal requirement to the official in charge of a facility for the detention of adult offenders or persons charged with crime shall inform the court immediately when a minor who is or appears to be under 18 of age is received at the facility.

And we agree with your proposed CD1 and acknowledge the wisdom of putting. Putting that provision back in that we had repealed. So I'm willing to support this going forward and vote on it.

And we also wanted to make it effective upon approval.

Make it effective upon approval. Yes, we agree.

All right, so there'll be a seat. 1. [Roll Call] Okay. We have a bill.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks.

We're adjourned. Wanted to say something. zero, didn't you?

I did. May I say something?

Certainly, go ahead. Chair Belatti.

Chairs, thank you for voting out Senate Bill 694.

I think that this is a momentous day when we passed out both this measure and Senate Bill 104 that really is addressing solitary and confinement as a practice that is frowned upon in many, many, many jurisdictions, I think, particularly for the detention of minors, especially we know the harmful effects of solitary confinement, which is essentially what happens with minors when they are placed in cells with adults.

So. Or in jails and prisons with adults. So thank you so much for your work on this. I think this is a huge win for our community.

Thanks for that acknowledgement, and I look forward to your floor speech.

Thank you for adjourned.

[Background]

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Joint House and Senate Conference Committee. This is April 25th--24th, 2025. This is the 4:30 p.m. agenda in Room 325. We only have one measure on our agenda which we're opening up on conference for. This is Senate Bill 401 Senate Draft 2 House Draft 1, relating to firearms. On behalf of the Senate is Senator Elefante as chair, Co-Chair Rhoads, and Members Chang and Wakai.

Thank you. On behalf of the House, we have myself, Tarnas, as chair and Members Todd and Garcia.

Okay. Thank you, chair, for your work on this. So we are going to accept the House Draft language, but we did also submit a CD 1 language to you, which I believe you have received with copies.

Yes, we've received it and studied it and have had discussions with you about--and are you--would you be able to make some description about what's in there at the beginning?

Yes. So if--with your indulgence, chair, basically in the CD 1, we're working off the 2025-2868 SB 401 CD 1 SMA.X draft.

Yes.

In general, what we will do is address inheritance concerns, allowing those currently and legally owning assault weapons, such as those detailed in this bill, the ability to transfer ownership of the weapon to the registered owner's spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, or lineal descendant, and allow the transferee the ability to obtain a permit for that weapon.

Yes.

And if you're okay with this, we can also put in an effective date of January 1, 2026.

I think that's advisable. This is a big change. You know, I think if we all look back, it was in 1992 that the Legislature passed the bill that prohibited the semiautomatic pistols that had a number of the same sort of accessories and that was a big change, and the Legislature, because they didn't take action on long guns, we've had 33 years of having these on the market and people have been--become very accustomed to it.

And I appreciate those who have been opposing this in part because they're just very accustomed that this is what's normal, but there--I think this is the right way to move forward and I appreciate your work on the conference draft to allow inheritance and also the delayed start date and I think we are in support of that and we're ready to take it to a vote.

Okay. That works for us. If it's okay with you, I'll take the vote.

Please go ahead.

Okay. Members, this is on Senate Bill 401 SD 2 House Draft 2. Recommendation is to pass with a CD 1. Chair Elefante votes aye. [Roll Call]. May I take the vote for the House?

Yes, please.

[Roll Call]. And what time do you have?

4:33.

Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our business today. We're adjourned.

Thank you.

Welcome to conference Committee hearing Thursday, April 24. 4:45 p.m. here in Conference Room 325 at the State Capitol, we're here to consider House Bill 698. House Draft 1, Senate Draft 2, relating to animal cruelty.

On behalf of the House, we have myself, Tarnas, as Chair and Poepoe and Shimizu as Members.

For the Senate, myself as Chair, DeCoite, Gabbard, Richards, Fevella. Our managers.

Thank you. I appreciate your forbearance as we tried to go back and forth working with you, Chair Rhodes, and also with you, Chair Richards, and your other Members here, Senator Gabbard, Senator Poepoe, we tried to come up with language that would work. We're getting closer, but we're. We're not able to come to an agreement.

I will recommend to the introducer some suggestions so that he could reintroduce this bill next year in a form that we think would be amenable to your Members. So in the meantime, I would recommend that we defer this measure for this year. Okay. Reluctantly, I concur. Okay. Thank you. That's all for business before us today.

We are adjourned.

Welcome to the conference Committee reconvening. This is Thursday, April 24th. It's our 5:15pm reconvening time. It is now 5:24 here. Here we are in Conference Room 325. We're here to consider House Bill 127 HD1SD1 relating to pretrial release on behalf of the House. We have myself, Tarnas as Chair, Poepoe and Garcia as Members.

Myself as Chair, and Senators Chang and San Buenaventura as managers. Thank you very much. This is a bill that is specifically related to pre trial release and it requires certain factors to be considered when determining a defendant's financial ability to afford bail. We've produced a proposed CD and if it's okay, I'd like to briefly describe it, please.

So as folks know, the amount of bail rests in the discretion of the justice or judge or the officers named in Section 804 and shall be set in a reasonable amount based upon all available information, including the offense alleged, the possible punishment upon conviction, and the defendant's financial ability to afford bail. That's what's in the statute.

Right now in 804. 9 we're adding language that follows. The defendant's financial ability to afford bail shall be subject to the following considerations to the extent known. One, any income derived from public benefits, including Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability Insurance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, shall be excluded from consideration.

And two, if the defendant's household income, exclusive of any income derived from public benefits, exceeds 150% of the federal poverty level for Hawaii, the amount the defendant could reasonably pay within 40 hours of arrest shall be considered. That's the added language. And then the statute continues.

The bail amount shall should be so determined as not to suffer the wealthy to escape by the payment of a pecuniary penalty, nor to render the privilege useless to the poor. And I understand that part was written in 1896. How about that? So that's the conference draft that we have on the table.

Are you in agreement that we can go forward to vote on it?

I would like a recess since this is substantially different from the actual bill we heard. In fact, the actual bill we heard refers to 804-7.5. This is 804-9. Yes. And I am just being told in the last 10 minutes that we are not voting on the revisions on 804-7.5, but actually creating an 804.

To me, this has gotten replaced, so I need to go talk to the Chair. So with that, I would like a recess.

We'll take a brief recess.

Okay.

1 thanks for reconvening the conference Committee to consider HB 127 relating to pretrial release. We have circulated a CD1, which I think is a useful bill to move forward. We don't have agreement with all the Members of the Senate Conference Committee at this time.

And so since today is a deadline on this measure, I think, reluctantly, we'll have to defer on this measure and come back to it. And I'll work on it again next session. Unfortunately, I concur. Okay. There being no further business before this conference Committee, we are adjourned.

Convening on the 130 Agenda to consider and vote a bunch of bills. I'll yield to Representative Lowen for priority measures.

The last two Senate bills, starting with Senate Bill 1220 relating to renewable gas tariffs.

Senate Bill 1220 relating to renewable gas tariff. On behalf of the Senate, myself as chair, Co-Chair Kanuha, Co-Chairs Richards, Awa Member.

And on behalf of the House, myself, Co-Chairs Matayoshi, Takenouchi, Perruso and Pierick as managers.

Unfortunately, chair, we do not have quorum on this measure. On the Senate side, can we move to another priority Bill, I also do not.

We don't have FIN, WAM release on this, I believe, and we will roll it. Is it okay if we roll it to tomorrow at 1:30PM in this room. So same time, same place.

Yes, that's fine. Thank you. Okay. Next measure is SB 1500 SD2 HD1, relating to electric utilities. On behalf of the Senate, myself as chair, Wakai, Co-Chair Richards, Awa as Member.

On behalf of the House, myself, Co-Chair Sayama, Matayoshi, Takenouchi, and manager Reyes Oda.

And we also don't have quorum on this.

Okay. I think we're also waiting on FIN, WAM. And we can roll this too, if you're amenable tomorrow. Same time, same place.

Tomorrow, 1:30PM in this conference room.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

You're welcome. Since we're on this agenda, maybe we can go back up to the top. Sounds Good. House Bill 70.

House Bill 70 HD1 SD1, relating to condominiums. On behalf of the House, we have myself, Representative Todd as Co-Chairs, Representatives Iwamoto and Pierick as managers.

And on behalf of the Senate, myself as chair, Rhoads, Co-Chair. Fukunaga McKelvey, Members, thank you.

And this Bill is basically condominium Association budget summaries with some replacement reserves and compliance enforcement measures, not allowing condo summaries to reference other parts of Bill.

And I do appreciate your willingness to consider changes. We have received your CD1. We are amenable. And as soon as I have my co-chair, Senator Rhoads, we'd be happy to vote this.

Okay. Yeah. Do you want to move on to another measure while we wait or do you know where he's at.

Roll to end of calendar, please. Okay. As soon as he arrives, we maybe just take it out of order. That sounds good to me.

Okay, next up we've got HB850 HD1 SD1, relating to condominiums. This is for electronic meetings, electronic voting. It does not sound like we have agreement on this. Do you want to keep rolling it or do you want to.

I don't think we're going to come to agreement. I do appreciate your vociferous advocacy, but I think we should wait until. We should try this again next year.

Okay, sounds good. Why don't we defer this measure. Thank you. Okay, and moving on.

Opening on Senate Bill 752. Senate Draft 1 House Draft 1 relating to insurance. On behalf of the Senate, myself as chair, Senator McKelvey as Co-Chair, Senator Awa as Member.

On behalf of the House, we have myself as chair, Representatives Chun and Pierick as managers.

I believe we have distributed the proposed CD1, and I believe we are ready to agreement.

Yep, we are in agreement.

Okay. May I take the votes, please. On behalf of the Senate, I vote, Aye. Senator McKelvey, yes please. Senator Awa is excused. May I take the vote, On behalf of the House.

Yes, please.

Chair Matayoshi, yes. Manager Chun, aye. Manager Pierick, aye. measure is adopted.

Thank you.

Next measure is SB 825 SD2 HD2 relating to eviction mediation. On behalf of the Senate, myself as chair, Hashimoto, Rhoads, Co-Chairs, Fukunaga, McKelvey Members.

On behalf of the House, we have myself, Representatives PeoPeo and Takenouchi as Co-Chairs, Representative Chun and Pierick as managers.

So thank you, Chair. On this one, I believe we do have agreement and have distributed a CD1 that we are waiting for Ways and Means and Finance Committee release on.

Yes, I believe that's where we're at. I think we also wanted to request some language in the conference Committee report just outlining what kind of reporting requirements they're going to be in the fourth Bill. That's right.

Can we defer action on this until tomorrow, the 25th at 1:30PM in this conference room.

That sounds good. Okay, thank you.

Okay, next measure. I have quorum on House Bill 70. Would you like to move back on that.

Let's go back to House Bill 70 HD1 SD1, relating to condominiums. Once again, this just requires budget summaries to contain all required information without referring the reader to other portions of the budget. Clarifies the ability to enforce compliance with budget summaries and replacement Reserve requirements and provides an Association that an Association has the burden of proving compliance.

Although we changed that to. that part was removed. Yeah, I'm sorry. That last part Was removed. So there's no burden shift anymore. All right, so recommendation the House of Senate Managers to pass with amendments. Chair votes aye. Representative Todd, aye. Representative Iwamoto, aye. Representative Pierick, aye. May have taken the vote for the Senate. Senator Keohokalole, aye.

Senator Rhoads, sure. Senator Fukunaga, aye. Senator McKelvey, yes. Senator Awa is excused. All right, thank you.

While you're finishing that up, I'll just move to the next Measure which is SB 1044 SD2 HD2, relating to the stabilization of property insurance. On behalf of the Senate, myself as Chair. Moriwaki Co-Chair. Fukunaga, McKelvey, Awa Members.

What are we on? 1044. On behalf of the House, we have myself and Representative Yamashita as Co-Cchairs. Representative Chun, Tam, and Pierick as managers.

Okay, thank you, Chair. We are still working on the draft language on this measure. Thank you for your assistance. Coming to an agreement on that. I believe we are close. We do need Ways and Means and Finance Committee release. So can we defer action on this measure until tomorrow, 1:30PM April 25th in this room, conference Room 224.

224, got it. Yep.

Sounds good. And thank you for your work on this. I appreciate you interfacing with AG's office to clean this Bill up. Thank you.

Next measure is SB 1048 SD2 HD2, relating to the solicitation of funds from the public. On behalf of the Senate, myself as Chair Rhoads, Co-Chair Awa Member.

behalf of the House, we have myself and Representative Yamashita as Co-Chairs. Representatives Iwamoto and Pierick as managers.

Thank you, Chair. We do have an agreement on this measure. We have distributed the CD1 and I believe. Are we prepared to vote. Yep, we are in agreement with the CD1. We have FIN and WAM release. We don't have WAM.

So if you're ready to go, we're ready to go. Let's do it. Members were voting on SB 1048 SD2 HD2. The recommendation is passed with amendments. Chair goes aye. Co-Chair Rhoads and Senator Awa is excused. May I take the vote, on behalf of the House. Yes, please. Chair Matayoshi, aye. Co-Chair, Takenouchi, aye.

Representative Iwamoto, aye. Representative Pierick, aye. We have a Bill. Thank you very much. And on this agenda we're adjourn.

Reconvening on Senate Bill 1367 Senate Draft 1 House Draft 1, Relating to Installment loans on Behalf of the Senate, of myself as chair, Senator Richards as Co-Chair, Member Awa.

On behalf of the House we have myself and Representative Takenouchi as Co-Chairs.

I believe we have discussed. Let's see a proposed CD1 which reflected a conversion of that fee to $1. And we are discussing a potential five year drop dead provision.

Yeah, a five year sunset on it. So we're waiting on the CD but we're in agreement on the basic terms. Open release yet bbviously. Why don't we roll it today.

Okay. Tomorrow 10:30 agenda in conference Room 224.

In 224. Yeah.

Thank you. We are adjourning,

Good afternoon. We're reconvening on Senate Bill 1365 House Draft 1 relating to the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. On behalf of the Senate, myself as chair, Senator Moriwaki as Co-Chair. Member Awa is excused.

Thank you. On behalf of the House we have myself as well as Representatives Chun and Keohokapu‑Lee Loy as Co-Chairs and Representative Amato and Alcos as managers.

I believe we have agreement and we have received our release.

Yes. Would you like to describe your Bill?

Certainly. This is the almost the original Bill with some minor technical amendments. What it does is really allow for us to move forward and I think.

Criminal history background checks of physicians seeking to transfer into the State of Hawaii using the Medical Licensure Compact.

Yes. And it takes effect on 07-01-2025, which is the correction.

That's true. So we're prepared to vote.

Okay, thank you. Recommendation of the House and Senate managers is to pass with amendments. On behalf of the Senate, I vote aye. Senator Moriwaki, aye. Senator Awa is excused. On behalf of the House, may I take the vote please. Chair Takayama, aye. Chair Chun, aye. Chair Keohokapu‑Lee Loy, aye. Member Amato, aye. Thank you.

We are adjourned.

And Member Alcos, aye. Thank you. We have a Bill. Thank you very much.

We're reconvening the conference Committee for the 230 agenda. It is Thursday April 24th, 2025 in Conference Room 224. First up we have HB939 HD1 SD2, relating to alcohol, suggesting the alcohol tax and some of the maximum alcohol by volume production numbers. On behalf of the House we have myself and Representative Takenouchi as Co-Chairs. Representative Pierick as manager.

On behalf of the Senate, myself as Chair Wakai, Co-Chair. Senators McKelvey, Richards, Fevella Members.

I think we've got agreement on this, but we are still waiting for a FIN/WAM release. If you don't mind, why don't we roll this to tomorrow April 25th at 2:30PM in conference Room 224. Okay, thank you. Next up we have HB 1052 HD1 SD2, relating to the Universal Service Program. On behalf of the House.

We have myself and Representative Takenouchi as Co-Chairs, Representatives Iwamoto and Pierick as managers.

On behalf of the Senate, myself as chair, Senators Hashimoto and Kanuha as Co-Chairs and Member Awa.

Okay, and again, well I understand you guys might have WAM release on this, but we don't have FIN unfortunately. So sorry. Why don't we roll this till tomorrow 2:30pm in conference Room 224.

Okay, thank you very much.

We are reconvening for our conference meeting. It is Thursday, April 24th 3:23PM at Conference Room 224. Top of the agenda we have HB 1370. Chair we are still looking for a release and would you mind if we can agree on rolling this over tomorrow at this room at 1:30pm Tomorrow the 25th.

Yes. Perfect.

Let's roll it over. And we are now adjourning.

Like to call to order the conference Committee on Higher Education, the Senate and the House. Today is Thursday, April 24th. It is 1:31pm we're in Conference Room 2 to 9. Several measures on today's agenda. We're going to start by moving up some Senate Bill 1502. It's on the bottom of the first page.

This is relating to the University of Hawaii. The conferees for the Senate is myself as chair, Hashimoto, co-chair and favella Member.

Thank you, Senator. For the House, myself and Rep. Holta's co-chairs, Members Amato, Lamosao and Souza.

Okay. And believe we do have a release on this chair.

Yes, correct. We do. Up from finance as well.

Okay. So the purpose of this bill is it's for uh, Manoa College of Social Sciences, uh, West Oahu Business Administration program for the defense sector. And we are basically appropriating. Appropriating salaries of $195,000 for FY26 and $195,000 for FY27. This is for one half time FTE and one full time FTE.

We also are funding $270,000 for both FY26 and 27 for the student internship programs, certification and software. And this is at the University of West Oahu. Correct any questions? If not, we take the role. Hey. Voting on Senate Bill 1502. Chair votes. I Senator Hashimoto Villa is excused. May I take the vote for the House? Yes, please, thank you.

Okay, Garrett.

Aye.

Rep. Amato. Aye. Rep Lamosao excused. And Rep. Souza aye. Okay, we have a bill.

Yay, thank you, Senator.

Thank you. Yeah, we are voting.

You know what? Let me get that out. Okay, we said we're good. Are you guys ready to go?

He 13, right?

Yeah.

1500.

Yeah. Since you're on 70, something goes. I want to make sure you.

Did. We have the 1300 release on 13. Okay. He's on the screen too.

Yeah, I still need Rep. Le who is.

Okay, then let's just go ahead with in the meantime then. Five for nine.

Actually, since center. Can we go down to the Last Bill? House Bill 718.

718. Yes.

Almost wore that shirt today.

Everybody wear different versions.

Okay, so you want to do 718? Yes. Okay.

Okay. So skipping to the last bill on our 1:30 agenda. House Bill 718 relating to positions at the John E. Burns School of Medicine. For the House, myself and Reps, and both co-chairs, Members Miyake, Sayama and Souza.

For the Senate, myself as chair. K chair, favella Member.

Thank you. Senator, I believe we have both been and random release on this Bill. Okay, thank you. So for the CD1, we are in agreement on a total of four positions for the John E. Burns School of Medicine for. Let's see here again 3.0FT faculty positions.

One in the field of cardiovascular biology, one in tropical medicine and one in quantitative health biostatistics, as well as 1.0 FTE for an environmental Health and Safety Officer position. Appropriation of 763,000 for each of the next two fiscal years and a clean, clean effective date of July 1, 2025.

That's correct.

Okay, thank you. Confre is voting on House Bill 718. I'm sorry, any discussion? Seeing none. Confre is voting on Hospital 718 HD1 SD1 REG. Recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair votes aye, Co Chair Holt, Member Miyake aye. Member Sayama is excused. Member Souza excused. May I take the vote for you please. Senate, Please.

Chair Kim I co Chair Kuha and Member Favella is excused. Thank you. We have a bill.

Okay, thank you. You down? Okay.

Sorry, Jackson.

For the Senate, myself as chair Hashimoto, co-chair Favella Member.

Okay, since we have Senator Hashimoto here, may we skip now to House Bill 11691170 and 1171? Okay, thank you. Just give me a second to get organized here. Up next, the House Bill 1169 HD1 SD2 relating to the University of Hawaii Conference Center Revolving Fund for the House. Myself and Rep. Holt is co chairs Members Amato, Muraoka

Okay, thank you. We just received the FIN release on this one and I believe you have WAM release on this as well.

Do you have one release on this one? And I just want to say that for the number of years we've been trying to pass this, that you must be the lucky charm because it's passing off.

Yes. So for the CD one that we've come to an agreement on, we did remove the appropriations appropriation section and added a clean effective date.

Correct.

Thank you. Moving on to the Vote 1169 HD1 SD2 presenting discussion. Okay, seeing none, proceeding to the vote, the recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair votes aye. Co Chair Holt, Member Amato and Member Morocca. Thank you. May I take the vote for the Senate? Chair Kim?

Aye.

Co Chair Hashimoto and Member Favella excused. Thank you. We have a bill.

Thank you.

Moving on to the next Bill. Hospital 1170 HD1 SD1 relating to the University of Hawaii Resident Tuition Fee. Well, sorry for The House, myself and Rep Holt as co-chairs Members Amato, Muroaka.

For the Senate myself as chair Hashimoto co-chair.

Okay, thank you. So this one either previously circulated CD1 the change that we agreed to is to reduce the look back period to two years and as well as a clean effective date. Okay, Members, any discussion? Seeing none. Proceeding to the vote on House Bill 1170 HT1ST1 the recommendation is to pass with amendment. Chair votes aye.

Please.

Co chair Holt, Member Amato, Member Muroaka may take the vote for the Senate?

Chair Kim Aye. Co chair Hashimoto and Member Favella excused. Thank you. We have a bill.

Thank you. You notice these are all House next year has to change.

Okay. House Bill 1171 HD2 SD1 relating to the University of Hawaii Relief Funding for the House myself and co-chairs Members Amato and.

Muraoka for the Senate myself as chair Hashimoto co-chair for Favella no.

Okay, and this is another one we just secured a fin release on and I believe you have from Wham as well. Just to recap the agreed to CD1 we there is a cap of $3 million for the fund as well as a clean effective date.

Okay, conferees any Discussion on Hospital 1171 HD2 SD1 seeing none will proceed to the vote. Chair votes aye. Co-chair Holt, a Member Amato Aye. And Member Muraoka. Okay. And for the Senate Chair Kim Aye. Co chair Hashimoto and Member Favella excused. Thank you, we have another bill.

Okay. We have. You have your Members for 1300.

Yes, I do.

Okay.

Okay. So we're now transitioning to House Bill 1300 HD1 SD1 relating to cancer for the House myself and Raphael Kaplu Lee Loy is co chairs and Member Alcos for the.

Senate myself is chair Hashimoto, Co chair Favella Member.

Okay, so for this bill we also received the money Committee releases earlier. So just to recap the agreed to CD1 Section 2 we're including appropriation of 500,000 per year.

Section 3, we're removing the federal match requirement and encouraging or actually putting amending it to read that the cancer center shall seek other sources of funding and section four with a clean effective date. Okay, thank you. Members, any discussion? Seeing none proceed to the vote On House Bill 1300 HD1 SD1 recommendation is to pass with amendments. Chair votes.

aye. Co-chair Lee Loy and Member Alkos thank you. For the Senate Chair Kim.

Aye.

And co chair Hashimoto aye. And Member Favella excused. Thank you. We have another bill.

Thank you.

Okay. I believe that leaves us with two bills on our 130 agenda. So for House Bill 549 HD3 SD1, this is relating to an early learning apprenticeship grant program. For the House, myself, Reps. Martin and Holt as co-chairs, Members Amato and Souza.

For the Senate, myself as chair, Kidani and Kanuha, co-chairs and the Court Member.

Okay, thank you, Senator. I'm going to need a little more time on this one. May we roll this over till tomorrow at 3:05pm?

Okay.

Okay. So House Bill 549 3:05pm and tomorrow April 25th in room 229. Okay. And then turning it over to you for the remaining Senate Bill on the agenda.

Okay. For Senate Bill 1252 relating to dementia, the conferees for the Senate is myself as chair, Aquino co-chair and Favella Member.

Okay, thank you, Senator. For the House, myself, Rep. As co chairs, Members La Chica, Miyake and Souza.

Okay. We did float a draft and we have not gotten any kind of release as of this. Same for us as well. So you did see the draft, right?

Yes, we're in agreement with the concept.

Okay, so we'll roll this over also for 3:05.

Okay.

In room 229 on Friday.

Sounds good.

That is that. We're done with that. We have two minutes to the next one.

Do you have any jokes you can share with the crowd?

Yeah, but I don't know that the crowd wants to hear it.

All right, well, we'll adjourn for two minutes. All right. Good afternoon. I'm convening the conference Committee on a higher education Bill. Today's Thursday, April 24, 2025. It is 1:49pm in Conference Room 229 at the State Capitol opening initial conference on House Bill 563 HD1 SD1 relating to the University of Hawaii Space Science and Engineering Initiative for the House.

Myself and Rep. Holt as co chairs, Members Keokapu, Leeloy and Member Kusha.

Member Souza from the Senate, it's myself as chair, Kanuha, co-chair Favella Member.

Okay, thank you, Senator. I know we've had some discussions on this bill. I think. Would it be okay if we roll this over till tomorrow's agenda as well at 305. Okay, so House Bill 563 HD1 SD1 deferring till tomorrow April 25th at 3:05pm in room 229.

And if I can talk for another 10 seconds, I think we can roll into the 150 agenda.

150.

305. Thank you.

Okay, now that it's 1:50, we'll roll into the 1:50 agenda. House Bill 1168 HD1 SD1 relating to the University of Hawaii revenue bonds. For the House, myself and Rep Kagawa as co Chairs and Members Amato and Muraoka.

And for the Senate, myself as Chair Hashimoto, co Chair, Fevella Member.

Okay, thank you, Senator. I believe we're in agreement on a CD1. We are still waiting for fin release on our side.

Same here.

Okay, so may we roll this over till tomorrow at 305 as well?

Yes.

Okay, so House Bill 1168 HD1 ST1 differing till Friday April 25th at 3:05 in room 229. Yes.

Okay. For Senate Bill 865 this is uh, CTAHR positions. The conferees for the Senate, myself as chair, Kanuha Co-Chair and Favella Member.

Thank you, Senator. For the House, myself and Rep Holt as co-chairs, Members Kapela, Lamosao and Souza.

Okay, Chair, we did send over a conference draft. However there is been a change and that change would be reflected that the one position and amount would be allocated and expended by Agribusiness Development Corp.

Okay.

For the purposes of to get the positions to CTAR. And so that is being drafted. So we can roll this over as well for tomorrow? Yes, April 25th at 3:05pm and room tonight.

Okay, thank you. Up next, Hospital 442 HD1 SD1 relating to the University of Hawaii. For the House, myself and Rep. Holt as co-chairs Members Miyake, Sayama and Souza.

And for the Senate, myself as chair Hashimoto co chair Favella.

Okay, thank you Senators. So this one we do have a CD one essentially making an appropriation Bill for the two positions that were not in the House budget. I'm sorry, the House. House Bill 300, the budget Bill. So my understanding is the amount needed by UH West Oahu for UOH, 700.

Correct.

Okay, so the months we have is $107,776 for is the cost for each FTE you have a different amount?

Well, I don't have that draft, I guess.

You know what? I think we just got it a second ago. I'm sorry. Here you go. So everything else we confirmed that was in the budget has been deleted from this version of the CD one. So we're limiting it just to UOH.

700 for some reason. I thought it was like 200, but it's 107.