HB 978 Hawaii House · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO ELECTRIC UTILITIES.

Summary

Provides the Public Utilities Commission the authority to appoint a receiver to take temporary action necessary to assure continued adequate electric services from regulated investor-owned electric utilities. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

House Passage

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 21, 2025 Last action Dec 8, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

HB978 → HB978_HD1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to remove the appropriation of funds for the Public Utilities Commission's receiver appointment process and to change the effective date from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 3000. These changes eliminate the immediate budgetary commitment for enforcement actions and significantly delay when the law becomes active.

Scope change

The bill's scope regarding funding was reduced by removing the appropriation section, and its applicability timeline was extended by over a thousand years.

FISCAL

Deleted Section 3, which previously appropriated specific funds from the Public Utilities Commission special fund to cover costs associated with appointing a receiver.

TIMELINE

Changed the effective date of the Act from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 3000, delaying implementation by approximately 975 years.

TECHNICAL

Updated the bill title and description to reflect the removal of the funding provision and the new effective date.

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 13, 2025

Lower · Passed

Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cochran, Kitagawa, Ward excused (3).

lower

Feb 13, 2025

Committee

Reported from CPC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 557), recommending referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 11, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on CPC recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 10 Ayes: Representative(s) Matayoshi, Chun, Ilagan, Ichiyama, Iwamoto, Kong, Lowen, Marten, Tam, Pierick; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and Excused: none.

lower

Feb 4, 2025

Committee

Reported from EEP (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 89) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to CPC.

lower

Jan 28, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on EEP recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 4 Ayes: Representative(s) Lowen, Perruso, Kahaloa, Kusch; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Quinlan, Ward.

lower

Jan 23, 2025

Committee

Referred to EEP, CPC, FIN , referral sheet 3

lower

Jan 23, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors