HB 1943 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

Summary

Expands the purposes of the establishment and operation of out-of-state offices to include collaboration with tourism agencies and stakeholders to execute tourism strategies. Requires, and appropriates funds for, the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to establish out‑of-state offices in Seoul, Republic of Korea and Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Republic of the Philippines. Appropriates funds for the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism's Beijing and Taipei offices to promote "Made in Hawaii" branded products and increase the export of Hawaii products. Effective 7/1/3050. (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 30, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB1943_HD1 → HB1943_SD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill expands the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism's mandate to establish new out-of-state offices in Seoul, Republic of Korea, and Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Republic of the Philippines. It also updates the bill's effective date to July 1, 3050, and adjusts the description of existing Beijing and Taipei office purposes.

Scope change

The bill's scope was expanded to include a new requirement for establishing an office in the Philippines, in addition to the existing requirement for an office in Korea.

REQUIREMENT

Added a requirement for the department to establish an out-of-state office in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Republic of the Philippines.

Modified the purpose of existing out-of-state offices to explicitly include collaboration with tourism agencies and stakeholders to execute tourism strategies.

Removed the reference to a 'Philippines' office in the list of existing Beijing and Taipei offices, likely due to the new specific requirement for Laoag.

TIMELINE

Changed the bill's effective date from July 1, 3000, to July 1, 3050.

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

Mar 30, 2026

Upper · Passed

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

upper

Mar 30, 2026

Committee

Reported from EDT/WLA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3309) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.

upper

Mar 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on WLA recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in WLA were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) Lee, C., Inouye, Chang; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 2 Excused: Senator(s) Lamosao, DeCorte.

upper

Mar 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on EDT recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in EDT were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) DeCoite, Wakai, Fukunaga; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 2 Excused: Senator(s) Kim, Fevella.

upper

Mar 20, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on EDT/WLA has scheduled a public hearing on 03-23-26 1:15PM; Conference Room 224 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 10, 2026

Committee

Referred to EDT/WLA, WAM.

upper

Mar 10, 2026

Introduced

Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 172).

upper

Mar 6, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Pierick voting no (1) and Representative(s) Perruso, Quinlan, Sayama excused (3). Transmitted to Senate.

lower

Mar 4, 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 19, 2026

Committee

Reported from ECD/TOU (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 506-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 4, 2026

Lower · Passed

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

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 28, 2026

Committee

Referred to ECD/TOU, FIN, referral sheet 3

lower

Jan 26, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 23, 2026

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

12 primary · 0 co-sponsors