SB 260 Hawaii Senate · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO THE JUDICIARY.

SB 260 allocates funding for the state Judiciary for the fiscal years 2025-2027, effective July 1, 2025. It provides the necessary budget to support court operations, judicial staff, and related services during this two-year period. This bill directly affects the Judiciary branch by ensuring financial resources for its day-to-day functioning and court system maintenance. As a funding measure, it does not change laws or policies but enables existing judicial operations to continue.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Feb 2025

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 14, 2025 Last action Dec 8, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SB260 → SB260_SD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

This bill was converted from a House bill to a Senate committee draft, updating metadata and dates. The most significant policy change is an increase in the capital improvement funding for the judiciary from $9.9 million to $11.9 million. Additionally, two new sections were added to address specific needs: one to expand funding for civil legal services and another to require a study on expunging records for defendants with multiple charges or offenses.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded to include new mandates for civil legal services funding and a specific study on expunging records for multi-defendant or multi-offense cases.

FISCAL

Increased the total capital improvement project funding from $9,900,000 to $11,900,000.

REQUIREMENT

Added a requirement to allocate $1,000,000 for civil legal services in fiscal years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027.

Added a mandate for the judiciary to study and report on expunging records for defendants with multiple charges or offenses.

TECHNICAL

Updated bill metadata, including changing the document type from 'SB' to 'SD' and updating revision numbers and dates.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 13, 2025

Upper · Passed

Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM.

upper

Feb 13, 2025

Committee

Reported from JDC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 427) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.

upper

Feb 5, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in JDC were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Rhoads, Gabbard, Chang, San Buenaventura, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.

upper

Jan 29, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on JDC has scheduled a public hearing on 02-05-25 9:15AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference.

upper

Jan 21, 2025

Committee

Referred to JDC, WAM.

upper

Jan 15, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and passed First Reading.

upper

Jan 14, 2025

Introduced

Pending Introduction.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors