STAND. COM. REP. NO. 297-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2597

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Economic Development & Technology, to which was referred H.B. No. 2597 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require and appropriate funds for the Chief Data Officer to:

(1) Enhance the State's open data portal website through the phased development and publishing of an artificial intelligence chatbot as a virtual assistant on statewide shared data sets; and

(2) Develop a system to evaluate and select artificial intelligence governance tools for use by state departments and agencies and establish a reporting and publication mechanism related to artificial intelligence use cases and vendors used by the departments and agencies.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Enterprise Technology Services and two individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Information Practices.

Your Committee finds that improving public access to government information is essential for transparency, civic engagement, and efficient delivery of services. Your Committee further finds that artificial intelligence tools, when deployed responsibly with appropriate governance and privacy safeguards, can help Hawaii residents better navigate statewide services and data resources. This measure will modernize the State's open data infrastructure, strengthen oversight of artificial intelligence use, and support the responsible integration of emerging technologies across state departments and agencies.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation and positions to unspecified amounts;

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

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

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $2,000,000 that includes one full-time equivalent artificial intelligence engineer position and one full-time equivalent artificial intelligence scientist position.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Economic Development & Technology that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2597, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2597, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Economic Development & Technology,

____________________________

GREGGOR ILAGAN, Chair