Sen. Troy Hashimoto

Establishes a Journalistic Ethics Commission within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Establishes a Journalistic Code of Ethics. Requires news media outlets to provide training in the ethics of journalism to journalists and editors in their employ. Establishes a Journalistic Ethics Review Board to be administratively attached to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Requires the Journalistic Ethics Review Board to handle complaints and appeals regarding violations of the Journalistic Code of Ethics. Requires the Journalistic Ethics Commission to submit annual reports to the Legislature. Establishes penalties for violations. Requires the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii to conduct an analysis of the journalism program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa College of Social Sciences. Requires the Board of Regents to report to the Legislature.

Requires the Hawaii State Energy Office to conduct a statewide environmental assessment for, and subsequently administer, a Geothermal Resources Characterization Program under the direction of the Hawaii Groundwater and Geothermal Resources Center at the University of Hawaii. Appropriates funds.

Maddy summarySB 1196 establishes a fee on ridesharing services (like Uber or Lyft) within the state. The funds collected from this fee are required to be deposited into the Safe Routes to School Program Special Fund. This program supports concrete infrastructure improvements, such as safer crosswalks, bike lanes, and pedestrian pathways near schools. The bill directly affects ridesharing companies operating in the state and benefits students and communities by funding school safety infrastructure.

Authorizes the Commission on Water Resource Management, as a condition for issuing permits, to require the use of dual line water supply systems in new residential and mixed-use developments located in designated water management areas. Authorizes those residential and mixed-use developments to be included in irrigation projects, as defined in chapter 167, HRS. Authorizes the Board of Agriculture to investigate and survey the availability of nonpotable water. Requires the Department of Health, Board of Agriculture, and the counties to update their rules, ordinances, to allow dual line water supply systems in residential and mixed-use developments.

Reestablishes the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii as an organized research unit within the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) that is administered by a director appointed by the University of Hawaii's board of regents with direct lines of reporting to the chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, provost of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and dean of JABSOM. Requires funds expended from the Research and Training Revolving Fund for JABSOM and the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii to be used for research and research-related purposes only. Repeals provisions that required the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii to be administratively affiliated with JABSOM.

Requires counties to commission a comprehensive economic impact analysis before issuing tax increment bonds and make the analysis publicly available. Requires counties issuing tax increment bonds to conduct publicly available biennial independent audits and report to the Legislature. Requires counties issuing tax increment bonds to establish a review board to oversee tax increment bond projects. Restricts the amount of total outstanding tax increment bonds that may be excluded from the calculation of a county's debt limits from exceeding twenty per cent. Conforms county debt limit statements law to exclude tax increment bonds from the debt limit of the counties if a constitutional amendment authorizing the use of tax increment bonds and excluding tax increment bonds from determinations of the counties' funded debt is ratified.

Requires the Department of Health to amend its administrative rules to: (1) Authorize not more than five dwellings and dwelling units connected to a single individual wastewater system; and (2) Provide that not more than five bedrooms may be connected to a single individual wastewater system. (SD1)

Requires corporations, organizations, or individuals engaging to commercial transactions or trade practices to clearly and conspicuously notify consumers when the consumer is interacting with an artificial intelligence chatbot or other technology capable of mimicking human behaviors. Authorizes private rights of action. Establishes statutory penalties.

Establishes the Immigration Services Trust Fund to support immigration-related matters within the Office of Community Services. Requires the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to submit annual reports to the Legislature on the accounting of expenditures of the Fund. Appropriates funds.

Establishes the eighth day of August of each year as "Hawaii Disaster Drill Day". Requires the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, in coordination with all state departments and agencies, to conduct drills and perform other activities for that day. (SD1)