SB 739 Hawaii Senate · 2025 Regular Session

RELATING TO LAND EXCHANGE.

Summary

Allows the Governor to negotiate land exchanges, subject to approval by the Board of Land and Natural Resources, to acquire lands that are suitable for long-term diversified agricultural production in exchange for land for private affordable, workforce, or other housing development. Requires a report to the Legislature. (CD1)

Issues: ✓ Housing

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2025

Senate Passage

Apr 2025

House Passage

Apr 2025

Signed into Law

Jul 2025

Introduced Jan 17, 2025 Signed Jul 2, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 4 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB739_SD1 → SB739_SD2 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was renumbered from S.D. 1 to S.D. 2 and updated with metadata indicating it was revised on February 27, 2025. The core legislative text regarding land exchange for agriculture and housing remains substantively unchanged, though formatting was corrected to remove non-standard characters and metadata artifacts.

Scope change

The bill's scope and applicability remain unchanged; the substantive policy provisions regarding land exchange negotiations, agricultural land acquisition, and housing development are identical to the previous version.

TECHNICAL

The bill was renumbered from S.D. 1 to S.D. 2, indicating a revision in the legislative process.

Metadata headers and timestamps were added to the document, including author names and revision history, which are administrative rather than legislative content.

Non-standard characters, symbols, and file metadata (such as '2025-1714 SB739 SDl SMA.docx') were removed from the text to clean up the formatting.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Apr 30, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed Final Reading as amended in CD 1 with Representative(s) Amato, Hussey voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Belatti, Garcia, Iwamoto, Muraoka, Pierick, Poepoe, Shimizu voting no (7) and Representative(s) Cochran excused (1).

lower

Apr 30, 2025

Upper · Passed

Passed Final Reading, as amended (CD 1). Ayes, 22; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 3 (Senator(s) Awa, DeCorte, McKelvey). Excused, 0 (none).

upper

Apr 25, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reported from Conference Committee (Conf Com. Rep. No. 193) as amended in (CD 1).

lower

Apr 25, 2025

Introduced

48 Hrs. Notice (as amended CD 1) 04-30-25.

upper

Apr 25, 2025

Upper · Passed

Reported from Conference Committee as amended CD 1 (Conf. Com. Rep. No. 193).

upper

Apr 25, 2025

Upper · Passed

The Conference committee recommends that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes of the Senate Conference Managers were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Inouye, Gabbard, Aquino, DeCorte; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) McKelvey.

upper

Apr 25, 2025

Lower · Passed

The Conference Committee recommends that the measure be Passed, with Amendments. The votes were as follows: 5 Ayes: Representative(s) Hashem, Kahaloa, Lamosao, Morikawa, Souza; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.

lower

Apr 25, 2025

Lower · Passed

Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Friday, 04-25-25 at 4:00PM in Conference Room 411.

lower

Apr 24, 2025

Upper · Passed

Conference committee meeting scheduled for 04-25-25 10:15AM; Conference Room 229.

upper

Apr 4, 2025

Amended

Senate disagrees with House amendments.

upper

Apr 4, 2025

Introduced

Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 471).

upper

Apr 3, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed Third Reading with Representative(s) Amato voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Garcia, Iwamoto, Muraoka, Pierick, Shimizu voting no (5) and Representative(s) Cochran, Woodson excused (2). Transmitted to Senate.

lower

Mar 28, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 14 Ayes: Representative(s) Yamashita, Takenouchi, Grandinetti, Holt, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Kitagawa, Kusch, Lamosao, Lee, M., Miyake, Morikawa, Templo, Alcos, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Hussey, Ward.

lower

Mar 21, 2025

Committee

Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with Representative(s) Amato voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Muraoka, Pierick voting no (2) and Representative(s) Cochran, Garrett, Kapela, Kitagawa, Ward excused (5).

lower

Mar 21, 2025

Committee

Reported from AGR (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1408), recommending referral to FIN.

lower

Mar 19, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on AGR recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 5 Ayes: Representative(s) Kahaloa, Kusch, Lowen, Perruso, Quinlan; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Ward.

lower

Mar 14, 2025

Committee

Reported from WAL (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1266) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to AGR.

lower

Mar 11, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on WAL recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 8 Ayes: Representative(s) Hashem, Lamosao, Belatti, Ichiyama, Morikawa, Poepoe, Shimizu, Souza; Ayes with reservations: none; 1 Noes: Representative(s) Iwamoto; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Woodson.

lower

Mar 6, 2025

Committee

Referred to WAL, AGR, FIN, referral sheet 19

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Introduced

Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 188) in amended form (SD 2).

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Upper · Passed

Report adopted; Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 2). Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none . Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House.

upper

Feb 19, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on WAM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in WAM were as follows: 13 Aye(s): Senator(s) Dela Cruz, Moriwaki, Aquino, DeCoite, Elefante, Hashimoto, Inouye, Kanuha, Kidani, Kim, Lee, C., Wakai; Aye(s) with reservations: Senator(s) Fevella ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.

upper

Feb 14, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on WAM will hold a public decision making on 02-19-25 10:02AM; Conference Room 211 & Videoconference.

upper

Feb 14, 2025

Committee

Reported from WTL/AEN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 568) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.

upper

Feb 12, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on AEN recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in AEN were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Gabbard, Richards, Rhoads, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) DeCoite.

upper

Feb 12, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on WTL recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in WTL were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Inouye, Elefante, Chang, McKelvey, DeCorte; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.

upper

Feb 7, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on WTL/AEN has scheduled a public hearing on 02-12-25 1:05PM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.

upper

Jan 23, 2025

Committee

Referred to WTL/AEN, WAM.

upper

Jan 17, 2025

Introduced

Introduced.

upper

5 primary · 1 co-sponsor