STAND. COM. REP. NO. 687-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1876

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawai

Madame:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1876 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MENTAL HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to amend the existing prohibition on conversion therapy by:

(1) Extending the prohibition on the practice of conversion therapy to patients of all ages, rather than just patients under eighteen years of age; and

(2) Exempting talk therapy in the form of pure speech.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; Hawaiʻi State Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Plus Commission; HOKU PAC; Pride at Work – Hawaiʻi; Imua Alliance; Hawaiʻi State Democratic Women's Caucus; Lambda Law Hawaiʻi; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Hawaii Family Forum.

Your Committee finds that conversion therapy refers to any practice, treatment, or sustained effort that seeks to change, suppress, or eliminate a person's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, or to enforce rigid gender norms. These practices may be framed as counseling, spiritual guidance, behavioral modification, or "reparative" treatment, but they share a common goal: to deny the legitimacy of LGBTQIA+ identities and coerce individuals into conformity.

Your Committee further finds that there is no credible scientific or medical evidence that conversion therapy works to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. The consensus of every major medical, psychiatric, and psychological association rejects conversion therapy and finds it ineffective and potentially harmful, including the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association. The use of conversion therapy has been shown in research to be consistently linked with negative physical and mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, substance use, self-harm, and suicidality. For these reasons, the practice of conversion therapy on minors was prohibited in the State through Act 13, Session Laws of Hawaii 2018, and Act 157, Session Laws of Hawaii 2019.

However, your Committee notes that a case, Chiles v. Salazar, No. 24-539 (U.S.), is before the Supreme Court of the United States in which a counselor is challenging the legality of a substantially similar law enacted in Colorado based on protected free speech. This measure provides a conditional amendment on the existing prohibition on conversion therapy that will be effective only upon a final decision in Chiles v. Salazar that carves out an exemption for talk therapy.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Limiting the prohibition on the practice of conversion therapy to patients under the age of twenty-five years, rather than prohibiting the practice regardless of the age of the patient; and

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1876, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1876, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair