SB 3191 Hawaii Senate · 2026 Regular Session

RELATING TO A DEPARTMENT OF WATER SAFETY AND DROWNING PREVENTION.

Summary

Establishes the Department of Water Safety and Drowning Prevention. Establishes the position of Director of Water Safety and Drowning Prevention. Establishes the position of Deputy Director of Water Safety and Drowning Prevention. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/2525. (SD1)

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Feb 2026

House Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 28, 2026 Last action Feb 20, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

SB3191 → SB3191_SD1 · 9 edits

MAJOR

The bill was converted from a Senate bill to a Senate Draft 1 version, updating metadata, authorship, and formatting. The substantive policy text remains largely the same, though minor wording adjustments were made to clarify findings regarding water safety programs and task force funding.

TECHNICAL

Updated bill metadata, including the author's name, bill number, version identifiers, and effective dates.

Changed the bill title from 'SB3191' to 'SB3191 SD1' to reflect its status as a Senate Draft 1 version.

Adjusted formatting and capitalization in the legislative findings section to improve readability and consistency.

Corrected a typo in the text describing the Waikiki natatorium by adding 'war' to 'Waikiki memorial natatorium war memorial'.

Changed the phrase 'all regards of race' to 'all persons regardless of race' for grammatical correctness and clarity.

Replaced 'hurdles' with 'surmountable hurdles' and 'venue for' with 'while the ocean provides a venue for' to refine the legislative language.

Adjusted the description of the task force from 'Hawaii water safety task force' to 'task force on beach and water safety' for accuracy.

Corrected the effective date in the summary section from 'July 1, 2026' to 'July 1, 2525'.

Fixed a typo in the University of Hawaii reference by changing 'University of Hawaii' to '[University] university of Hawaii'.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the Senate. No roll call record of that vote is available.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 20, 2026

Upper · Passed

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

upper

Feb 20, 2026

Committee

Reported from GVO/PSM (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2591) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM/JDC.

upper

Feb 18, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on PSM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in PSM were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Fukunaga, Lee, C., Hashimoto, Inouye, DeCorte; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.

upper

Feb 17, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on GVO recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in GVO were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) McKelvey, Hashimoto, Moriwaki, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Gabbard.

upper

Feb 13, 2026

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on GVO/PSM has scheduled a public hearing on 02-17-26 3:30PM; CR 225 & Videoconference.

upper

Feb 2, 2026

Committee

Referred to GVO/PSM, WAM/JDC.

upper

Jan 28, 2026

Introduced

Introduced.

upper

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors