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Deadline: Midnight! We’re in the final hours of our spring campaign. Give now and your donation will be DOUBLED!

Thanks to Civil Beat donors John and Darlene Abt, all donations will be matched up to $5,000!

Double my gift

Chad Blair/Civil Beat/2025

About the Author

The Sunshine Blog

The Sunshine Blog is reported and written by Ideas Editor Patti Epler, Deputy Ideas Editor Richard Wiens and Politics Editor Chad Blair.

Short takes, outtakes, our takes and other stuff you should know about public information, government accountability and ethical leadership in Hawai‘i.

Partial public uncertainty: Did they or didn’t they? As of the 6 p.m. deadline Friday for bills to pass, it was unclear whether there would be an increase to the state’s partial public financing program for political candidates.

House Bill 370, which sought to boost the amount of money going into the program, is dead, but Rep. David Tarnas, the lead negotiator on the bill, said there may be money in the budget for it anyway.

“We requested money in the budget, but I haven’t been able to do the investigation to see if we were successful,” Tarnas told The Blog.

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Civil Beat opinion writers are closely following efforts to bring more transparency and accountability to state and local government — at the Legislature, the county level and in the media. Help us by sending ideas and anecdotes to sunshine@civilbeat.org.

Introduced by the Campaign Spending Commission, HB 370 has been the focus of an intense lobbying campaign by Clean Elections Hawaiʻi, a coalition that includes Common Cause Hawaiʻi, Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi and the League of Women Voters of Hawaiʻi.

Along with the bill on the contractors loophole legislation, House Bill 371 — which died along with the public financing bill — the measure was considered a top government reform bill — hailed as something that would help “level the playing field” to get more people elected to office who are not heavily dependent on dollar bills from well-heeled interests. Candidates that qualify can receive matching funds from the state for a range of offices at the state and county level.

Evan Weber of Our Hawaiʻi, part of the clean elections hui, said, he was pleased to see money for the program in the budget, because the Campaign Spending Commission wants to help more candidates run for office.

“But without the changes proposed in HB 370, the program will remain a non-viable alternative to private donor campaigning for many candidates and offices,” he said late Friday. “For real reform, we hope those changes (in the bill) that raise the campaign expenditure limits and the amount of matching funds candidates can receive become law.”

Rocket power: Lawmakers are following through on promises to crack down on fireworks four months after a deadly explosion on New Year’s Eve that left six dead and dozens injured.

Legislators passed measures earlier this week to fund a new law enforcement unit dedicated to investigating fireworks cases as well as a new lab for examining explosives and additional funding for the Department of Law Enforcement to conduct sting operations as part of its fireworks investigations. 

In light of the tragic loss of life at an Aliamanu Fireworks party on New Years evening, the Dept of Law Enforcement under the Direction of Jordan Lowe and in conjunction with HPD Bomb squad and various other state and local agencies conducted a Fireworks Amnesty event at Aloha Stadium on Saturday January 11th and invited the public to turn in any illegal fireworks with no questions asked.  Both professionally manufactured and self made elements were turned in to agents who sorted and packed the fireworks for disposal at a later date. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2025)
Illegal fireworks might become less of a problem in Hawaiʻi under measures passed by the Legislature late Friday. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2025)

On Friday, lawmakers also gave state and county police the power to use drones to catch people popping illegal fireworks. House Bill 550 would allow police to use drone footage to establish probable cause for fireworks violations as long as the drones are flown over public property and they also catch people lighting fireworks on public property.

Members of the House and Senate also agreed to a final draft of House Bill 1483, which heightens fireworks penalties in cases where people are injured or harmed. The omnibus measure also changes a slew of definitions in state law that would make it easier for prosecutors to pursue charges in fireworks cases.

Get your hands off my stuff: Lawmakers stopped short of requiring law enforcement to secure a felony conviction before seizing someone’s property. Instead, Hawaiʻi’s law on property forfeiture will see a less dramatic change. Police and prosecutors would need to charge someone with a crime but could take their assets before they were actually convicted, under the version of House Bill 126 that emerged from conference committee Friday.

Sen. Karl Rhoads at a conference committee hearing this week at the State Capitol. (Chad Blair/Civil Beat/2025)

Groups like the ACLU of Hawaiʻi had hoped the seizure threshold would be an actual conviction. But supporters of forfeiture reform still found something to cheer.

Nikos Leverenz of the Hawai’i Health & Harm Reduction Center and Drug Policy Forum called the final draft of the bill “a highlight of this year’s legislative session for those who value the rights of individuals against persistent government overreach.”

“The bill will substantially improve Hawaiʻi’s asset forfeiture law, which are among the worst in the nation in terms of transparency and protection of private property rights,” he said in a statement.

He also singled out a provision that requires state agencies to maintain and post records of items seized and forfeited and an accounting of forfeiture proceeds expended.

No dice: Lawmakers also failed to reach an agreement on a bill this session to legalize sports betting.

“At this moment, it’s very hard to get a compromise,” Rep. Greggor Illagan said during a final meeting on it, adding that lawmakers would use the interim to draft a better bill ahead of next session.

“That’s fine with me,” Lynn DeCoite, the Senate’s lead negotiator, said.

Illagan then killed the bill immediately.

The House had been pushing for higher tax rates and licensing fees than in the current Senate draft of the measure.

Any changes would mean that the bill would need to win approval again in the Senate, where it just narrowly passed last time 15-10.

The scene in conference Room 411, moments before lawmakers killed the sports betting bill. (Blaze Lovell/Civil Beat/2025)

It’s the furthest a gambling measure has made it in the Legislature in at least a decade.

Gov. Josh Green has said he would not veto a sports betting proposal if one came to his desk, unlike his predecessor, David Ige, who staunchly opposed gambling.

Lawmakers who pushed for the bill have done so looking forward to revenues that taxing sports betting companies could bring.

But Hawaii isn’t expected to rake in as much as its mainland counterparts. At a rate of 10%, the tax department expected to net about $5 million a year.

Opponents harped on the social ills that could befall Hawaiʻi if a gambling measure were to pass.

State and county prosecutors cited studies that showed increases in domestic violence in areas that had legal forms of gambling as well as worsening financial outcomes for gamblers.

Experts on gambling addiction have not reached a consensus on whether or not the introduction of sports betting has led to a rise in problem gamblers — in large part because that issue has never been studied at a national scale.

But researchers from Rutgers University in New Jersey have found evidence that sports bettors tend to report worse mental health issues than other gamblers.

Maybe next year: Lawmakers also declined to give the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands additional funding this year.

Lawmakers did provide $20 million this year for routine repair and maintenance projects for DHHL through the state budget.

But agency officials and House lawmakers sought an additional $600 million appropriation from the Legislature this session, two years after the department received a historic $600 million cash infusion that it used to kickstart 29 projects.

DHHL Director Kali Watson said that the lack of new funding won’t delay any of the department’s ongoing projects. However, money would be needed to continue those projects and to plan others in the future.

“This is something we’ll be doing for the rest of the life of the program – always coming in for money,” Watson said. 

“It’s a forever thing.”

Rebranding the DOA: Lawmakers have finally agreed to overhaul the state agriculture department to shore up the islands’ defenses against a tide of invasive species. Their first move is to change the agency’s name to to the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity. The DOA will now be known as DAB … or maybe DOAB. The Blog is still trying to figure that one out.

The measure will add a second biosecurity-focused deputy director, give the state power to declare agricultural states of emergency and, most controversially, put the Hawaiʻi Invasive Species Council under the department’s purview. 

Some argue that consolidating invasive species control under one roof makes sense for the state’s biosecurity, but the ag agency’s track record doesn’t instill confidence in opponents, who say it doesn’t play well with others. Even the council wants to stay put, in March passing a motion stating the move was against the state’s best interests. 

Gov. Josh Green is the bill’s final hurdle — he’ll have until July to veto or approve measures — and he may want HISC to stay put. Green halved a landmark $20 million biosecurity bill last year at the agriculture department’s request. And even if the governor green lights the move, HISC has a bit of time to pack its things — the official move-out date isn’t until 2030.

And they call it puppy love: The Blog is pretty sure Gov. Josh Green was not trying to influence legislators to pass his bills on the final day of conference at the Capitol but it surely didn’t hurt that he had a new friend in tow as me made the rounds.

Boba is the Green family’s newest member and was a big hit with all lucky enough to pet the pup.

Gov. Josh Green taking his new puppy, Boba, for a tour of the Capitol. That’s DHHL Director Kali Watson talking to Green. (Marcel Honoré/Civil Beat/2025)
(Marcel Honoré/Civil Beat/2025)

Playing with fire: Lawmakers are trying to fix the Office of the State Fire Marshal this year after they failed to properly fund it last year.

In line with Gov. Josh Green’s requests, lawmakers have agreed to set aside $2.2 million to onboard a marshal, two deputies, two administrative staff and set up the office. That’s a bit better than the $172,000 appropriation from 2024.

The office will be part of the Department of Law Enforcement. The fire marshal — once finally chosen — will be tasked with implementing the recommendations from the attorney general’s report that assessed the state’s vulnerabilities to wildfire, in the context of the 2023 Lahaina fires.

Final floor votes on all the bills that cleared conference committee are scheduled for Wednesday and Friday, the latter being the final day of the current session.


Read this next:

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About the Author

The Sunshine Blog

The Sunshine Blog is reported and written by Ideas Editor Patti Epler, Deputy Ideas Editor Richard Wiens and Politics Editor Chad Blair.


Latest Comments (0)

Good move Governor! Boba reminds me of the quote ascribed to Harry Truman: "You want a friend in this city? Get a dog!" I believe Honolulu is a lot friendly than Washington DC and our legislature is certainly more collegial than Congress (a snake 🐍 pit probably beats Capitol Hill today in DC on that measure!). Glad the Governor walked the halls; it demonstrates savvy and accessibility. I recall Governor Ariyoshi often doing the same as session came to a close, but he didn’t bring along a canine backer.

DDinell · 3 weeks ago

With so many bills being processed in such a short period of time should be the main reason why our part-time politicians with full-time salaries need to work full time hours just like the rest of us to get the job done more thoroughly to avoid the end of session crunch. This will allow for a more proper vetting of bills that would otherwise get passed over till the next session or killed for lack of time.

Ken · 3 weeks ago

The 2024 article "Sports Betting Culture Negatively Impacts Mental Health; NCAA Works to Support Student-Athletes" highlights the urgent need to seriously accept the destructive effects of sports gambling on financial stability and mental health. Research shows that sports betting devastates people's finances, as detailed in another 2024 news report on legalized gambling. Elected officials must firmly reject the legalization of online sports betting, one of the most addictive forms of gambling. While other states are investing in programs to combat gambling addiction, Hawaii cannot afford to develop services for these issues. The costs of treating gambling-related disorders will far exceed any projected revenue from legalization. Proponents argue that preventing gambling is futile due to existing illegal betting. This notion is not only misguided but also dangerous. Elected officials must take a stand to protect our island community from the distraction and harmful effects of online gambling and focus efforts on promoting healthier activities. The State DBEDT must also lead in prioritizing well-being of workers and and businesses, and securing a brighter future for all.

Ca · 3 weeks ago

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