HB 968 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO AGRICULTURE.

Summary

Requires the Department of Agriculture to establish a Healthy Soils Program. Requires an annual report to the Legislature. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 21, 2025 Last action Dec 8, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

HB968 → HB968_HD1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to change the effective date from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 3000, effectively delaying the implementation of the Healthy Soils Program indefinitely. Additionally, the specific dollar amount appropriated for the program was removed, leaving the funding section blank. These changes significantly alter the bill's immediate impact by preventing the program from starting as originally intended and removing the explicit funding commitment.

Scope change

The bill's scope is effectively nullified for the foreseeable future because the program is set to take effect in the year 3000, and the specific funding allocation was deleted.

TIMELINE

The effective date of the Act was changed from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 3000, delaying the program's start by nearly a millennium.

FISCAL

The specific appropriation amount of $500,000 for fiscal years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 was deleted, leaving the funding section blank.

TECHNICAL

Minor administrative updates included changing the bill version identifier from HB968 to HB968 HD1 and updating related metadata fields.

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 AGR (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 389) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 7, 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 23, 2025

Committee

Referred to AGR, FIN, referral sheet 3

lower

Jan 23, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

19 primary · 0 co-sponsors