HB 501 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT.

Summary

Establishes the Agricultural Enforcement Program within the Department of Law Enforcement. Establishes the Agricultural Enforcement Special Fund. Establishes positions. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD2)

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

House Passage

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 17, 2025 Last action Dec 8, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB501_HD1 → HB501_HD2 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill revision shifts the leadership authority for the agricultural enforcement program from the Board of Agriculture to the Director of the Department of Agriculture. It also updates the fund establishment language to use mandatory 'shall' and clarifies that county assignments apply to all four counties equally. These changes centralize decision-making power and streamline administrative oversight for agricultural theft enforcement.

Scope change

The bill's scope of authority changed by transferring enforcement oversight from the Board of Agriculture to the Director of the Department of Agriculture, consolidating control within the department.

ENFORCEMENT

Authority for the agricultural enforcement program was transferred from the Board of Agriculture to the Director of the Department of Agriculture.

The requirement for assigning investigator positions was clarified to ensure all four counties receive an equal number of positions.

REQUIREMENT

Language was updated to require the establishment of the special fund using mandatory 'shall' instead of permissive 'there is established'.

FISCAL

Funding allocations for consultants and hires were updated to reflect the Director's authority instead of the Board's.

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

Feb 14, 2025

Lower · Passed

Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN as amended in HD 2 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cochran, Matayoshi, Poepoe, Ward excused (4).

lower

Feb 14, 2025

Committee

Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 723) as amended in HD 2, recommending referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 6, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 10 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Belatti, Cochran, Hashem, Kahaloa, Perruso, Takayama, Todd; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Shimizu; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Garcia.

lower

Feb 3, 2025

Committee

Reported from AGR (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 35) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to JHA.

lower

Jan 29, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on AGR recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 5 Ayes: Representative(s) Kahaloa, Kusch, Lowen, Perruso, Quinlan; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Ward.

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Committee

Referred to AGR, JHA, FIN, referral sheet 2

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 17, 2025

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

19 primary · 0 co-sponsors