STAND. COM. REP. NO. 746-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2581

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2581, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to clarify that the emergency powers granted to the Governor and county mayors are strictly limited to situations that involve responding to the sudden occurrence of disasters or emergencies of tremendous severity and destructiveness resulting from natural or human-caused hazards.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from E Ola Kakou Hawaiʻi/Malama:Cummings God Trust; Grassroot Institute of Hawaii; Kupuna for the Moopuna; Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi; Earthjustice; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency.

Your Committee finds that emergency authority should be reserved for responding to sudden and catastrophic events, rather than long-term public policy challenges. This measure clarifies the definitions of "disaster" and "emergency" to ensure that emergency powers are used only in circumstances involving abrupt and severe threats requiring immediate action.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Defining the term "catastrophic harm";

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2581, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2581, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair