SR 36 Hawaii Senate · 2025 Regular Session

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO CONVENE AND PROVIDE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE TO A DESALINATION PLANNING TASK FORCE TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE USE OF DESALINATION FOR LARGE-SCALE WATER CONSUMPTION IN THE STATE IS FEASIBLE.

This Senate Resolution (SR 36) requests Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources to create a Desalination Planning Task Force to study whether large-scale desalination (removing salt from seawater to produce fresh water) is feasible for the state. The task force, including state agency leaders and county water officials, will examine water demand, environmental impacts (like energy use and brine disposal), cultural considerations (including Native Hawaiian sites), and how desalination might help meet future water needs amid Hawaii's freshwater crisis. The resolution does not mandate desalination but asks for a report by 2026 to inform future decisions. This study directly affects Hawaii's water management systems, agriculture, tourism, and communities facing water scarcity.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Apr 2025

Senate Passage

Apr 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Mar 7, 2025 Last action Apr 2, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SR36 → SR36_SD1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was reformatted from a traditional legislative document to a structured digital format with metadata headers, but the core substantive content of the Senate Resolution remains unchanged. The policy intent, task force composition, and requirements are identical between versions.

Scope change

No substantive change to the bill's scope or applicability; only formatting and metadata structure were modified.

TECHNICAL

Document structure changed from traditional legislative text to a structured digital format with metadata headers including timestamps, document IDs, and language settings.

Page headers and footers were removed and replaced with structured metadata fields.

Line numbers and formatting markers were replaced with structured data fields.

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

Apr 2, 2025

Upper · Passed

Report and Resolution Adopted, as amended (SD 1).

upper

Apr 1, 2025

Upper · Passed

Reported from WTL (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1429) with recommendation of adoption, as amended (SD 1).

upper

Mar 21, 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

Mar 13, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on WTL has scheduled a public hearing on 03-17-25 1:00PM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 11, 2025

Committee

Referred to WTL.

upper

Mar 7, 2025

Introduced

Offered.

upper

10 primary · 2 co-sponsors