STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3674

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2581

H.D. 2

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2581, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to facilitate the administration of emergency management and disaster relief.

Specifically, the measure:

(1) Amends the definitions of "catastrophic harm" and "disaster" as the terms are used within applicable emergency management law, for the purpose of clarifying that the emergency powers assigned to the Governor and county mayors are limited to situations that involve responding to the sudden occurrence of widespread or severe disasters, or emergencies resulting from natural or human-caused hazards;

(2) Establishes within the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency a Hawaii Community Resilience Hub Program to support the development and coordination of community‑based resilience hubs to provide emergency preparedness resources, disaster response support, and climate resilience education; and

(3) Appropriates moneys for the establishment and administration of the resilience hubs.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the University of Hawaii, ACLU of Hawaii, AARP Hawaii, Be Ready Manoa, Earthjustice, Sierra Club of Hawaii, Kailua Alert and Prepared, Free Access Coalition, Pepeekeo Community Development Corporation, Kohala Resilience Hub, Kupuna for the Moopuna, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, and numerous individuals.

Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Hamakua Resilience Hub, Naalehu Resilience Hub, and two individuals.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Office of the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, Vibrant Hawaii, Hope DIA-Mend Ministries, Hawaii Farm Bureau, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that because current emergency management law has been interpreted to grant the Governor overly broad emergency powers, those powers must be clarified and curtailed by amending the law, as proposed by this measure. Your Committee also finds that the Hawaii Community Resilience Hub Program proposed by this measure will strengthen the State's community‑based preparedness and resilience when disasters strike.

Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting language requiring the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to identify locations around the State that can be used as disaster response and mitigation hubs in an emergency, so that these hubs can be activated by the Agency during an emergency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2581, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2581, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair