STAND. COM. REP. NO. 832-26

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 Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2581, H.D. 2, 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 the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaiʻi; Earthjustice; Free Access Coalition; Grassroot Institute of Hawaii; Kauai Climate Action Coalition; Kupuna for the Moopuna; Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency and Department of Emergency Management of the City and County of Honolulu.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2581, H.D. 2, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

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CHRIS TODD, Chair