HB 1873 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII.

Summary

Exempts one six-hour strategic planning retreat of the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii per year from open meeting requirements if certain conditions are met. Requires members of the Board of Regents to complete a governance training and attend the training at least once every two years thereafter. Requires the Candidate Advisory Council to ensure that all candidates presented to the Governor for nomination have certain subject matter experience and are not registered lobbyists who have lobbied on matters pertaining to the University of Hawaii. Exempts the financial disclosures of the Board of Regents as mandated by the State Ethics Code from being made public. Requires the Board of Regents, in collaboration with the Candidate Advisory Council, to submit annual reports to the Legislature. Effective 7/1/3000. (SD1)

Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Mar 2026

House Passage

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

Mar 2026

Governor

Introduced Jan 23, 2026 Last action Mar 23, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB1873_HD2 → HB1873_SD1 · 5 edits

MODERATE

This bill updates the Hawaii University of Hawaii Board of Regents by clarifying that one six-hour strategic planning retreat per year is exempt from open meeting laws, provided no decisions are made. It also tightens eligibility rules for the Candidate Advisory Council by requiring nominees to have specific experience and prohibiting those who recently lobbied for the university. Additionally, the bill clarifies the reconfirmation timeline for regents and adjusts the reporting requirements for the board.

Scope change

The scope of the open meeting exemption was narrowed to specifically require the retreat to be six hours long and explicitly state that no decision-making or discussion of specific business requiring action occurs. The scope of the Candidate Advisory Council's eligibility criteria was expanded to include new experience requirements and stricter lobbying restrictions.

REQUIREMENT

The open meeting exemption for strategic planning retreats was modified to specify a duration of six hours and explicitly prohibit decision-making or discussion of business requiring action.

The reconfirmation process for regents was modified to clarify that the Senate must consider reconfirmation at least 120 days before the conclusion of a member's first term.

The annual report requirement was modified to remove the word 'describing' to improve grammatical flow.

ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility for the Candidate Advisory Council was modified to require nominees to have experience in specific areas like higher education administration, finance, or public sector governance.

The lobbying restriction for Candidate Advisory Council nominees was modified to clarify that they must not have lobbied on university matters in the twelve months immediately preceding nomination.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate. No roll call record of that vote is available.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM/JDC.

upper

Mar 23, 2026

Committee

Reported from EDU (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3133) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM/JDC.

upper

Mar 17, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on EDU recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in EDU were as follows: 2 Aye(s): Senator(s) Kim, Hashimoto; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 1 No(es): Senator(s) DeCorte; and 2 Excused: Senator(s) Kidani, Fukunaga.

upper

Mar 12, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on EDU has scheduled a public hearing on 03-16-26 1:00PM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 12, 2026

Committee

Referred to EDU, WAM/JDC.

upper

Mar 12, 2026

Introduced

Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 305).

upper

Mar 10, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed Third Reading as amended in HD 2 with Representative(s) Shimizu voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Cochran, Garcia, Hartsfield, Iwamoto, Matsumoto, Poepoe, Reyes Oda, Souza voting no (8) and Representative(s) Pierick excused (1). Transmitted to Senate.

lower

Mar 5, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 5 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Kahaloa, Takayama; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Poepoe, Shimizu; 2 Noes: Representative(s) Cochran, Garcia; and 3 Excused: Representative(s) Belatti, Hashem, Sayama.

lower

Feb 17, 2026

Committee

Reported from HED (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 303-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to JHA.

lower

Feb 4, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on HED recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 10 Ayes: Representative(s) Garrett, Amato, Evslin, Kapela, Kila, La Chica, Woodson, Muraoka, Souza; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Olds; Noes: none; and Excused: none.

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Committee

Referred to HED, JHA, referral sheet 2

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 23, 2026

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

6 primary · 0 co-sponsors