Rep. Mahina Poepoe

Requires the department of education to prohibit electronic telecommunication device usage during the instructional day and implement a social media and artificial intelligence literacy education campaign. Creates exemptions for students requiring accommodations, emergency situations, and teacher authorizations. Requires the department of education to submit a report three years after the initial effective date, and then every five years thereafter.

Establishes comprehensive reforms to protect children and families from abuse and improve systemic responses. Part I: Establishes the calendar year 2027 as the Year of Resilience, Safety, and Survivor Justice. Part II: Modernizes statutory definitions of harm and child abuse. Part III: Recognizes coercive control as domestic abuse. Part IV: Reforms Family Court procedures to prioritize child safety and prohibit parental alienation theories. Part V: Defines economic abuse and strengthens financial protections, including automatic restraining orders, emergency hearings, forensic accounting authority, and liability for financial institutions. Part VI: Safeguards neurodivergent children and prohibits diagnosis shopping. Part VII: Protects reproductive privacy in custody proceedings. Part VIII: Enhances Child Welfare Services Branch accountability through audits and creation of a Child Welfare Ombudsman. Part IX: Requires automatic protective orders and custody restrictions in cases of severe violence. Part X: Creates a Family Violence Docket with mandatory judicial training and an advisory panel.

Maddy summaryHB 2366 prohibits health insurance plans from requiring patients to pay out-of-pocket costs (like copays or coinsurance) for specific diagnostic and supplemental breast examinations ordered by a doctor. This directly affects patients who need these exams for evaluation or follow-up, removing a financial barrier to accessing care. The bill targets cost-sharing requirements for exams deemed medically necessary, not routine screenings. It aims to ensure patients aren't financially hindered from receiving recommended diagnostic services.

Requires any disposition of more than one thousand acres of public lands to governments by the Board of Land and Natural Resources to be subject to approval by a majority vote of both houses of the Legislature. Requires the government seeking the disposition of the public land to submit for introduction to the Legislature a resolution containing certain information. Requires a copy of the draft resolution to be sent to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Requires hotelkeepers to supply and provide annual training on the proper use and limitations of a panic button to certain workers no later than 1/1/2027.

In counties of fewer than 200,000 residents, but more than 100,000 residents, exempts the 3-day temporary liquor licenses for fundraising events, known as class 10 special licenses, from any requirement to obtain fire-related clearances. Allows applications for class 10 special licenses to be submitted electronically and for a single application to apply any fundraising event that spans multiple parcels of land owned by the same entity. Increases the percentage of fines assessed by all county liquor commissions that may be used to fund public liquor-related educational or enforcement programs.

Requires all state building construction begun on or after 7/1/2026 to provide at least 1 universal changing accommodation in each public restroom designated as a family or assisted-use restroom, where feasible.

Requires cash transactions to be rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents. Requires cash transactions that total $0.01 or $0.02 to be rounded up to $0.05. Exempts transactions in which payment is made by demand or negotiable instrument, electronic fund transfer, check, gift card, money order, credit card, or other like instrument or method.

Requires the University of Hawaii System to implement a financial literacy program offered at all campuses at no cost to students. Appropriates funds.

Maddy summaryHB 2528 proposes amending the Hawaii State Constitution to replace all primary elections with ranked-choice voting in every election. Under this bill, voters would rank candidates in order of preference instead of selecting just one, and candidates would need a majority of votes to win. This change would directly affect all Hawaii voters participating in state elections, including general elections for offices previously decided through primaries. The bill would eliminate primary elections entirely, shifting the voting process to a single general election using ranked-choice ballots.