HB 2595 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO REGIONAL AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PRODUCTION.

Summary

Establishes the Regional Agricultural Feasibility and Food Systems Production Studies Working Group within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to provide coordinated, region‑specific agricultural production and crop feasibility analysis across the State. Requires reports to the Legislature. Appropriates funds. Repeals 6/30/2028. Effective 7/1/2050. (SD1)

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

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 28, 2026 Last action Mar 24, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB2595_HD1 → HB2595_SD1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was revised from House Draft 1 to Senate Draft 1, primarily updating administrative metadata such as author names and revision numbers. The most significant substantive change is the correction of the bill's effective date from the erroneous year 3000 to 2050, ensuring the legislation will actually take effect as intended. Minor formatting adjustments were also made to hyphenate compound words for consistency throughout the text.

Scope change

The scope of the bill remains unchanged; it continues to establish a working group for agricultural feasibility studies and food systems planning within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.

TIMELINE

The effective date of the Act was corrected from July 1, 3000, to July 1, 2050, fixing a critical error that would have prevented the law from ever taking effect.

TECHNICAL

Administrative metadata including author names, bill identifiers, and revision numbers were updated to reflect the Senate version.

Text formatting was adjusted to properly hyphenate compound terms like 'farm-to-school' and 'multi-agency' for consistency.

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 24, 2026

Upper · Passed

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

upper

Mar 24, 2026

Committee

Reported from AEN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3156) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.

upper

Mar 16, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on AEN recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in AEN were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Gabbard, Richards, DeCoite, Rhoads; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Awa.

upper

Mar 13, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on AEN has scheduled a public hearing on 03-16-26 3:05PM; Conference Room 224 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 10, 2026

Committee

Referred to AEN, WAM.

upper

Mar 10, 2026

Introduced

Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 225).

upper

Mar 6, 2026

Lower · Passed

Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Perruso, Sayama excused (2). Transmitted to Senate.

lower

Mar 3, 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; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.

lower

Feb 17, 2026

Committee

Reported from AGR (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 327-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 11, 2026

Lower · Passed

The committee on AGR recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 5 Ayes: Representative(s) Chun, Kusch, Kahaloa, Perruso, Matsumoto; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Lowen, Quinlan.

lower

Feb 2, 2026

Committee

Referred to AGR, FIN, referral sheet 6

lower

Jan 28, 2026

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

20 primary · 0 co-sponsors