Hawaii taxpayers — except for the highest income earners — will continue to benefit from historic tax breaks after legislators wrapped up their 60-day session by increasing the state’s $1.6 billion “rainy day fund” by $50 million and adding new limits on county and state law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
In all, legislators approved about 250 bills by Friday’s final deadline out of more than 2,000 that were introduced in January.
The bills now going to Gov. Josh Green include the latest version of Senate Bill 2471 in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission that led to an explosion in unlimited spending by corporations, unions and special interests via so-called super PACS and “dark money.”
Advocates of SB 2471 said Hawaii’s approach could be a model for other states to push back against the high court’s ruling by requiring corporations and other interests incorporated in other states to comply with Hawaii campaign regulations.
The new law would not go into effect until July 2027, giving next year’s Legislature time to figure out how to not handicap campaign spending by local unions and companies.
In both the House and Senate Friday, legislators defended the bill’s intent, with several saying Hawaii will lead the country in responding to the Citizens United court ruling.
“The foundation of our democracy is that political power belongs to the people,” said Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole (D, Kaneohe-Kailua), who chairs the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee. “Corporations and other artificial entities exist because the state grants them legal privileges, including limited liability and lucrative tax benefits that individuals cannot claim. SB 2471 clarifies that those privileges do not include the power to spend corporate money to influence our elections.”
Following the January shooting deaths of two demonstrators by masked and unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducting immigrant sweeps in Minneapolis, Hawaii legislators introduced a flurry of bills specifically written to prohibit county, state and federal law enforcement from wearing masks on duty while requiring them to wear identification on their uniforms and vehicles.
The efforts died following a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court in April that blocked a similar law in California on the grounds it violated the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause by a state attempting to regulate federal operations.
“Because we’re in the same circuit, we knew that that would not prevail if we were to pass a similar bill,” said Rep. David Tarnas, who chairs the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee that reviewed all of the immigration enforcement bills.
“So we decided to set that aside and focus on the bills that we did move out, which basically prohibited cooperative agreements between state and county law enforcement officers and federal law enforcement officers specifically related to immigration enforcement,” said Tarnas (D, Hawi-Waimea-Waikoloa).
“… Our law enforcement officers really need to focus on their own kuleana and not be distracted by trying to enforce federal immigration laws. So, we passed that. We also passed other measures that established protected places that immigration enforcement would not be able to take place.”
Green has already signed eight bills into law. He now has until July 15 to sign or veto the others — or let them become law without his signature.
A cloudy start
The 2026 session began in January with questions over which of the 25 state senators and 51 representatives may have been the “influential state legislator” who allegedly accepted $35,000 in a paper bag in 2022.
The dark cloud over the Legislature brought new momentum to efforts that stalled in the 2025 legislative session to further tighten campaign and elections laws after former Senate Majority Leader J. Kalani English and then-Rep. Ty J.K. Cullen pleaded guilty in 2022 to federal bribery charges.
Cullen at the time was serving as vice chair of the powerful House Finance Committee chaired by then-Rep. Sylvia Luke, who was running for lieutenant governor and currently holds that office.
In April, Luke received a target letter as part of the state Department of the Attorney General’s investigation of the alleged cash payment following a referral from federal investigators. She has since gone on unpaid, indefinite leave from serving as Hawaii’s second-highest elected state official after announcing she would not seek a second term in this year’s elections.
The federal prison sentences handed out to English and Cullen have certainly caused veteran legislators to think back about their own political activity in 2022 and campaign contributions, according to Colin Moore, who teaches public policy at the University of Hawaii.
“This scandal is a black hole and there’s probably fear it’s not finished dragging people into it,” he said.
With all 51 House seats up for election this year, along with 13 of 21 state Senate seats, legislators felt pressure to pass more “clean government” reforms while simultaneously working to preserve tax breaks for all but the wealthiest residents, Moore said.
“Giving people a tax break and then yanking it back is about the worst possible situation you could confront politically,” he said. Instead, legislators “tried to gingerly manage the tax cut rollbacks because that’s a voting issue for most people, and I think they really did manage to thread the needle on that one.”
While some of the toughest campaign and election reform bills died, others survived, including the latest version of House Bill 2050. The measure increases the spending limit and amount of partial public campaign financing available for all elective offices, which proponents argue makes it easier for publicly financed candidates to resist pressure from lobbyists and campaign donors.
Financial balancing
Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz, chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means that influences state spending, said the tax relief measure passed on the Legislature’s final day will preserve income tax cuts from 2027 to 2031 for about 90% of isle households.
He told Senate colleagues on the floor Wednesday that through Senate Bill 3125, “We are protecting tax relief for Hawaii’s working families and middle-class families.”
Green in January proposed repealing the last five years of an eight-year tax cut package passed by lawmakers in 2024, saying it was necessary to preserve $1.8 billion in state revenue through 2031 and partly offset nearly $3 billion in anticipated revenue losses due to recent federal government actions.
Lawmakers opted to preserve scheduled tax cuts for everyone except joint filers earning over $1 million, heads of household earning over $750,000, and single filers earning over $500,000, who will all be taxed at a new higher rate. SB 3125 also increases tax cuts for households with very low incomes.
Sen. Kurt Fevella (R, Ewa Beach-Ocean Pointe-Iroquois Point) lauded Dela Cruz and other colleagues for helping shape the state budget and agreeing with the House on a compromise version of the tax relief preservation bill.
“Families in my district are feeling the pressures of high everyday costs from groceries to housing,” Fevella said on the Senate floor Wednesday, noting the price of a gallon of gas is approaching $6. “Preserving this tax relief is a right decision because of putting money back into the pockets of the local residents who need it most. … We needed this.”
Dela Cruz (D, Mililani-Wahiawa-Whitmore Village) noted that preserving the tax breaks reduces tax revenue for state needs, but said savings were found in other areas that included over $60 million trimmed from almost all state agency budgets and $47 million from excess balances in many special funds.
A provision in SB 3125 also repeals seven commercial tax credit programs over the next five years, including one benefiting the rooftop solar industry, that will result in an estimated savings of nearly $1.2 billion over the next six years.
In the state budget bill, House Bill 1800, some additional spending was appropriated for programs where the federal government is cutting back its support. The additional funding includes $10 million for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP benefits.
The state budget bill also includes about $129 million in new “Green Fee” tax revenue dedicated to protecting natural resources, mitigating disaster risk and improving visitor experiences. About 90 initial projects were approved, including $500,000 for ungulate control in West Maui and $8 million for beach restoration.
The finish line
While a handful of bills came down to last-minute votes Friday, most received final approvals Wednesday after public hearings held by committees that amended bills and led in many cases to a compromise draft being worked out later by House and Senate negotiators before final approval.
“The time was spent trying to negotiate how to balance the tax cuts with cuts to agency budgets,” Moore said. “The Senate had more aggressive cuts than the House, but ultimately what they’ve landed on seems pretty reasonable to me.”
House Speaker Nadine Nakamura (D, Hanalei-Princeville-Kapaa) choked up during her last House floor speech of the 2026 session.
“It’s just a sense of relief that we were challenged in so many ways this session with the two Kona-low storms and the devastation brought on so many communities around our state,” she told reporters after gaveling the end of the session.
“We got challenged by the federal cuts, the partial government’s shutdown — all of these things and then this war in Iran that is impacting every pocketbook for our residents here,” Nakamura said. “So there were a lot of challenges on the table coming into the session and during the session. … By working together, this group, the House, really brought it together and addressed the key needs, balancing the budget, addressing the social safety net programs that we know are going to be cut after the midterm elections and just addressing the needs.
“… It was just very emotional because I feel like we accomplished so much,” she said.