Rep. Nicole Lowen

Exempts from the general excise tax, gross receipts received from the sale of hearing aids.

Authorizes the issuance of special number plates to commemorate Duke Kahanamoku. Effective 6/30/3000. (HD1)

Provides employed individuals with up to 8 weeks of paid family leave during the 1st year after birth of the individual's child, adoption of a child by the individual, or placement of a child with the individual through foster care, and 8 weeks of paid family leave to care for the individual's family member having a serious health condition during any benefit year, paid through an employer-based private insurance program currently used to provide for temporary disability benefits. Specifies that private employers having fewer than 200 employees shall not be required to provide family leave and family leave benefits. Repeals chapter 398, HRS. Appropriates funds to the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Sections 1-28 effective 7/1/2025.

Appropriates moneys to the department of science of the University of Hawaiʻi Maui college to support water testing on the island of Maui, including supplies and the creation of 2.0 FTE positions. Effective 6/30/3000. (HD1)

Requires the department of human services to develop an infant and toddler child care worker subsidy pilot program to assist in retaining qualified child care workers in licensed infant and toddler child care centers. Appropriates funds. Sunsets 6/30/2026. Effective 6/30/3000. (HD1)

Adds a new chapter to the HRS to establish a system of regulatory controls for shopping carts and similar devices to prevent unauthorized removal from business establishments; provide for prompt retrieval when lost, stolen, or abandoned; require business owners to take certain specified actions to deter, prevent, or mitigate the removal of these devices from their premises and to retrieve any removed devices; and to prevent the continued possession of unlawfully removed shopping carts and similar devices and the accumulation of these devices on publicly or privately owned property.

Requires the department of education to establish rules for the procurement of goods and services related to the administration of food programs at public schools that incorporate a geographic preference for unprocessed locally grown and locally raised food products. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Establishes the criminal offense of unlawful shipment of tobacco products. Amends the definition of "tobacco products" under the Cigarette Tax and Tobacco Tax Law to include electronic smoking devices and e-liquids. Increases the license fee for persons engaged as wholesalers or dealers of cigarettes and tobacco products and the retail tobacco permit fee for retailers engaged in the retail sale of cigarettes and tobacco products. Repeals state laws that establish and govern the Electronic Smoking Device Retailer Registration Unit within the Department of the Attorney General; provisions of the Cigarette Tax and Tobacco Tax Law that govern delivery sales; and state law governing smoking that preempts and voids local ordinances and regulations conflicting with state law. Effective January 1, 2024.

Provides scholarships for the unmet direct cost needs of qualified students at any four-year University of Hawaiʻi campus who meet certain eligibility criteria. Makes an appropriation for the Hawaiʻi promise program. Effective 6/30/3000.

Requires the department of health to conduct a feasibility study for the establishment of an outpatient mental health facility for children and adolescents living in the Ocean View region of Hawaiʻi island, including in the communities of Ocean View, Milolii, Naalehu, and Pahala.