HB 1612 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

Summary

Establishes a business competitiveness goal for the State to be nationally ranked in the top thirty states for business climate by 2050, with interim goals. Requires the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to submit annual progress reports to the Legislature. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Mar 2026

House Passage

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 16, 2026 Last action Mar 17, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

HB1612 → HB1612_HD1 · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill version significantly delays the state's business competitiveness goals, moving the target year from 2045 to 2050 and adjusting all intermediate milestones accordingly. It also removes the requirement for the legislature to deliberate on department proposals and changes the effective date to July 1, 3000, while leaving the specific funding amount and employee positions blank for future determination.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on improving Hawaii's business climate, but the timeline for achieving goals has been extended by five years, and the legislative review process for annual reports has been removed.

TIMELINE

The target year for achieving a top-30 business climate ranking was changed from 2045 to 2050, and all interim ranking goals were shifted forward by five years (e.g., the 2030 goal is now 2035).

The effective date of the Act was changed from July 1, 2026, to July 1, 3000.

REQUIREMENT

The requirement for the legislature to deliberate on the department's annual proposals and enact legislation to advance goals was removed.

The annual report requirement was modified to include a deadline of twenty days prior to the convening of the 2050 regular session.

FISCAL

The specific dollar amount for research and administrative expenses was removed, and the appropriation for new full-time equivalent (FTE) positions was left blank.

Floor votes

How they voted

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

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 13, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on EDT has scheduled a public hearing on 03-17-26 1:00PM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 10, 2026

Committee

Referred to EDT, WAM.

upper

Mar 6, 2026

Introduced

Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 26).

upper

Mar 5, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Iwamoto voting no (1) and Representative(s) Perruso excused (1). Transmitted to Senate.

lower

Mar 2, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 16 Ayes: Representative(s) Todd, Takenouchi, Hartsfield, Hussey, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Kitagawa, Kusch, Lee, M., Miyake, Morikawa, Perruso, Templo, Yamashita, Alcos, Gedeon, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and Excused: none.

lower

Feb 17, 2026

Committee

Reported from ECD (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 288-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 4, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on ECD recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 7 Ayes: Representative(s) Ilagan, Hussey, Holt, Tam, Templo, Yamashita, Gedeon; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and Excused: none.

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Committee

Referred to ECD, FIN, referral sheet 1

lower

Jan 21, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 16, 2026

Introduced

Prefiled.

lower

7 primary · 1 co-sponsor