HB 686 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO COMMUNITY OUTREACH BOARDS.

Summary

Defines community outreach board to mean a board established to serve in a community advisory capacity under a county department. Includes community outreach boards in existing provisions of the Sunshine Law relating to neighborhood boards. Authorizes neighborhood board and community outreach board members to attend meetings or presentations related to official board business statewide. 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

HB686 → HB686_HD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was revised to clarify that community outreach boards are distinct from neighborhood boards, specifically excluding them from certain special provisions in the Sunshine Law. The definition of a community outreach board was updated to remove references to county commissions, limiting them to county departments. Additionally, the effective date of the Act was changed to July 1, 3000, and minor wording adjustments were made regarding member meeting permissions.

Scope change

The bill's scope was narrowed by explicitly stating that community outreach boards are not 'neighborhood boards' and therefore do not qualify for the specific statutory protections and definitions reserved for neighborhood boards under Chapter 92.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'community outreach board' was changed to remove 'county commission' as an establishing authority, now applying only to boards under a 'county department'.

SCOPE

The bill explicitly states that community outreach boards are not 'neighborhood boards' and are not entitled to special provisions for neighborhood boards in the Sunshine Law.

TIMELINE

The effective date of the Act was changed from 'upon approval' to 'July 1, 3000'.

REQUIREMENT

Minor text changes were made to Section 92-82 regarding whether members can 'organize' or 'attend' meetings, though the core permission to attend meetings remains.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 14, 2025

Committee

Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 744) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 13, 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, Hashem, Kahaloa, Perruso, Takayama, Todd, Garcia, Shimizu; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Cochran.

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Committee

Referred to JHA, FIN, referral sheet 2

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 17, 2025

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

3 primary · 0 co-sponsors