HB 572 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO GENERAL EXCISE TAX.

Summary

Exempts food and groceries from certain healthcare-related goods or services that were not the general excise tax. Expands general excise tax exemptions to include purchased under the Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE programs. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 17, 2025 Last action Dec 8, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

HB572 → HB572_HD1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to clarify that food and grocery exemptions apply to specific healthcare-related goods and services purchased under Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE programs, rather than a blanket exemption for all such services. The effective date was significantly delayed from January 1, 2027, to July 1, 3000, likely to allow for further legislative review or alignment with other pending measures.

Scope change

The scope of the medical services exemption was narrowed and clarified to specifically cover purchases made under federal programs (Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE) rather than all medical services, while the food exemption remains intact for general sales.

ELIGIBILITY

The exemption for medical services was refined to explicitly apply only to amounts received for goods or services purchased under Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE programs, removing the broader language that previously suggested a wider exemption for all medical services.

TIMELINE

The effective date of the Act was changed from January 1, 2027, to July 1, 3000, drastically postponing when the new tax exemptions will take effect.

DEFINITION

Definitions within the medical exemption section were adjusted to clarify terms like 'Medicaid' and 'medical or dental practitioner' and to remove bracketed text indicating deleted definitions for Medicare and TRICARE.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 11, 2025

Committee

Reported from ECD (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 332) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 5, 2025

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, Todd, Matsumoto; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Committee

Referred to ECD, FIN, referral sheet 2

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 17, 2025

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

5 primary · 0 co-sponsors