HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

THE THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2026

 

COMMITTEE ON HEALTH

Rep. Gregg Takayama, Chair

Rep. Sue L. Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Vice Chair

 

Rep. Terez Amato

Rep. Jenna Takenouchi

Rep. Daisy Hartsfield

Rep. David Alcos III

Rep. Lisa Marten

Rep. Diamond Garcia

Rep. Ikaika Olds

 

 

COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES & HOMELESSNESS

Rep. Lisa Marten, Chair

Rep. Ikaika Olds, Vice Chair

 

Rep. Terez Amato

Rep. Jenna Takenouchi

Rep. Daisy Hartsfield

Rep. David Alcos III

Rep. Sue L. Keohokapu-Lee Loy

Rep. Diamond Garcia

Rep. Gregg Takayama

 

 

 

NOTICE OF HEARING

 

DATE:

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

TIME:

09:00 am

PLACE:

VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE

Conference Room 329

State Capitol

415 South Beretania Street

 

 

 

Click here to submit testimony and to testify remotely or in person.

 

A live stream link of all House Standing Committee meetings will be available online

shortly before the scheduled start time.

 

Click here for the live stream of this meeting via YouTube.

 

 

 

A G E N D A

 

HB 1969

Status

RELATING TO COLORECTAL CANCER.

Requires and appropriates funds for the Department of Human Services to develop and implement a public assistance program offering state-funded colorectal screenings for certain persons.  Requires coverage for all colorectal cancer screenings in the State to be consistent with the Affordable Care Act Implementation Frequently Asked Questions published by the United States Department of Labor, United States Department of Health and Human Services, and United States Department of the Treasury.

 

HLT/HSH, CPC, FIN

HB 1965

Status

RELATING TO PRIMARY CARE.

Requires all health carriers to allocate, initially, not less than 6% of the carrier's total medical expenditures to primary care providers, with the percentage increasingly incrementally to 12%.  Requires health carriers to pay primary care providers directly, rather than through administrative mechanisms.  Places restrictions on downcoding and claim modifications.  Requires health carriers to ensure access to primary care in rural areas, including access to Primary Care Access Visits and Community Access Primary Care Sites.  Requires Insurance Commissioner to administer requirements established in bill.  Requires the Department of Human Services Med-QUEST Division to apply the Act, to the extent permitted by federal law and subject to any federal approvals, to Medicaid managed care organizations.  Requires reports.  Requires the Auditor to evaluate the impact of the Act on various metrics 3 years after the measure's effective date.  Establishes the primary care stabilization special fund.

 

HLT/HSH, CPC, FIN

HB 1804

Status

RELATING TO LONG-TERM CARE FINANCING.

Establishes a joint legislative Long-Term Care Financing Advisory Commission to examine the feasibility of different financing options for long-term care services and supports.  Permits the Commission, through the Legislative Reference Bureau, to contract for services of a part-time project director and prepare proposals for contracts for consultants to support the work of the Commission.  Requires the Commission to submit reports to the Legislature.  Appropriates funds.

 

HLT, LMG, FIN

HB 1976

Status

RELATING TO DEMENTIA.

Requires the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, fire chiefs, Law Enforcement Standards Board, and Department of Health to provide or require the provision of at least 1 hour of dementia‑specific training for first responders, including law enforcement officers, fire first responders, and emergency medical services personnel.  Requires the Executive Office on Aging to review and recommend dementia-specific training curricula that address the recognition and signs of Alzheimer's disease and related types of dementia.

 

HLT, PBS, FIN

HB 1530

Status

RELATING TO COMMUNITY RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT.

Requires any person applying to the Department of Health to contract or extend or renew a contract to operate certain residential treatment programs to, as a condition of the contract, obtain and maintain a general liability insurance policy with a certain minimum coverage amount; submit to the Department for review and approval a community safety action plan; and provide to the community association or neighborhood board in the community in which the program will operate a written notice of the program's establishment and location and the community safety action plan. 

 

HLT, CPC, FIN

HB 1541

Status

RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.

Exempts certain positions in the Developmental Disabilities Division of the Department of Health and Hawaii State Hospital from civil service.  Authorizes the Director of Health to appoint two additional associate administrators and two project managers for the Hawaii State Hospital or a secure psychiatric rehabilitation facility.

 

HLT, LAB, FIN

HB 1542

Status

RELATING TO COMPASSIONATE ACCESS TO MEDICAL CANNABIS.

Allows terminally ill patients and qualifying patients over sixty-five years of age with chronic diseases to use medical cannabis within specified health care facilities under certain conditions.  Requires enforcement by the Department of Health.

 

HLT, CPC, JHA

HB 1573

Status

RELATING TO HEALTH.

Requires electronic smoking device and e-liquid manufacturers to certify to the Department of Attorney General annually that the manufacturer received a Marketing Granted Order from the federal Food and Drug Administration and that the manufacturer is in compliance with federal regulations and state laws.  Requires the Department to compile and make public a directory of all electronic smoking device and e-liquid manufacturers and products duly certified.  Establishes penalties for manufacturers that fail to comply with the certification requirements and for other parties that sell products that are not in the directory.

 

HLT, CPC, JHA

HB 1704

Status

RELATING TO THE PSYCHOLOGY INTERJURISDICTIONAL COMPACT.

Adopts the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact to regulate the practice of telepsychology and temporary in-person, face‑to‑face practice of psychology by psychologists across state boundaries in the performance of their psychological practice.  Requires the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to adopt rules to implement and administer the Compact.  Effective 1/1/2027.

 

HLT, CPC, JHA

HB 1996

Status

RELATING TO HEARING AIDS.

Exempts from the general excise tax, gross receipts from the sale of hearing aids received by a hospital, infirmary, medical clinic, health care facility, pharmacy, or a practitioner licensed to administer drugs to an individual.  Sunsets 1/1/2028.

 

HLT, ECD, FIN

HB 1547

Status

RELATING TO HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS.

For taxable years beginning 1/1/2026, establishes a tiered nonrefundable tax credit for qualified taxpayer insurers that offer one or more federally qualified health savings account‑eligible high deductible health plans in the State, under certain conditions, and increasing the tax credit to incentivize more plans being written in rural medically underserved areas of the State.  Requires qualified taxpayer insurers to match up to a certain amount of a policyholder's first-time contribution into a health savings account.  Sunsets 12/31/2030.

 

HLT, CPC, FIN

HB 1563

Status

RELATING TO TOBACCO PRODUCTS.

Repeals existing law that preempts local ordinances or regulations that regulate the sale of cigarettes, tobacco products, and electronic smoking devices and voids any existing local laws and regulations conflicting with the state law governing smoking.  Allows counties to adopt ordinances that regulate the sale of cigarettes, tobacco products, and electronic smoking devices that do not conflict with and are more stringent than the state law that governs smoking.

 

HLT, CPC, FIN

 

 

 

 

DECISION MAKING TO FOLLOW

 

Persons wishing to offer comments should submit testimony at least 24 hours prior to the hearing.  Testimony received after this time will be stamped late and left to the discretion of the chair to consider.  While every effort will be made to incorporate all testimony received, materials received on the day of the hearing or improperly identified or directed, may not be processed.

 

Testimony submitted will be placed on the legislative website.  This public posting of testimony on the website should be considered when including personal information in your testimony.

 

The chair may institute a per-testifier time limit.

 

Committees meeting in the morning must adjourn prior to the day's Floor Session.  Therefore, due to time constraints, not all testifiers may be provided an opportunity to offer verbal comments.  However, written submissions will be considered by the committee.

 

Please refrain from profanity or uncivil behavior.  Violations may result in ejection from the hearing without the ability to rejoin.

 

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FOR AMENDED NOTICES:  Measures that have been deleted are stricken through and measures that have been added are bolded.

 

For more information, please contact the Committee Clerk at (808) 586-6340.

 

 

 

________________________________________

Rep. Lisa Marten

Chair

 

________________________________________

Rep. Gregg Takayama

Chair