SB 942 Hawaii Senate · 2025 Regular Session

RELATING TO RENTAL APPLICATIONS.

Summary

Prohibits a landlord from rejecting a rental application solely due to an applicant's inability to provide a recent paycheck. Authorizes the landlord to require the applicant to provide evidence dated within ninety days of the application demonstrating the applicant has sufficient unearned income or liquid assets to cover the rental costs. Effective 7/1/2050. (HD1)

Issues: ✓ Housing

Sub-Topics: Renters Tenant Rights Landlords

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

Senate Passage

Mar 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 17, 2025 Last action Mar 18, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

SB942_HD1 → SB942_SD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill modifies the rental application process in Hawaii by allowing landlords to accept alternative proof of income beyond traditional paystubs, such as unearned income or liquid assets. The key change is reducing the time window for submitting financial evidence from 90 days to 30 days, making the verification process more immediate. This aims to help retirees, self-employed individuals, and others with non-traditional income sources gain housing access.

Scope change

The bill maintains its scope but tightens the timeline for financial documentation submission, affecting all landlords and prospective tenants in Hawaii's rental market.

REQUIREMENT

Changed the deadline for submitting evidence of unearned income or liquid assets from 90 days to 30 days after the application date

Updated the bill title from House Draft (HD1) to Senate Draft (SD1) with associated metadata changes including author information and timestamps

TECHNICAL

Removed page headers and formatting artifacts from the House version while adding Senate-specific metadata fields

Added author names (Jane Lee, Bill SD, Ainoa Naniole) and version control information in the Senate draft

Floor votes · Senate Mar 4, 2025

How they voted

23–2

Passed

Total votes 25

Mar 4, 2025

D Democratic22

22 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican3

1 Yea 2 Nay

66% Nay

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 18, 2025

Committee

Reported from HSG (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1355) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to CPC.

lower

Mar 12, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on HSG recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 8 Ayes: Representative(s) Evslin, Miyake, Grandinetti, Kila, Kitagawa, La Chica, Muraoka, Pierick; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Cochran.

lower

Mar 6, 2025

Committee

Referred to HSG, CPC, referral sheet 19

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Introduced

Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 223) in amended form (SD 1).

lower

Mar 4, 2025

Upper · Passed

Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). Ayes, 23; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 2 (Senator(s) Awa, DeCorte). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House.

upper

Feb 25, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on CPN recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in CPN were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Keohokalole, McKelvey, Richards, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: Senator(s) Fukunaga ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.

upper

Feb 20, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on CPN has scheduled a public hearing on 02-25-25 9:34AM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.

upper

Jan 23, 2025

Committee

Referred to CPN.

upper

Jan 17, 2025

Introduced

Introduced.

upper

4 primary · 0 co-sponsors