HB2246 • 2026

RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL GRANT ADMINISTRATION.

Agriculture

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: NAKAMURA (Introduced by request of another party)
Last action: 2026-05-07
Official status: Transmitted to Governor.
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL GRANT ADMINISTRATION.

What This Bill Does

RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL GRANT ADMINISTRATION.
DAB; Agricultural Grant Program; Revolving Fund; Annual Report ($) Establishes the Agricultural Grant Program and Agricultural Grant Revolving Fund to allow the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to retain and expend federal indirect overhead reimbursements for the purposes of grant searching, application, execution, reporting, and auditing.
(CD1)

Limits and Unknowns

This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

CD1

Hawaii published version CD1

Plain English: HB2246 CD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.

HB2246 CD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.
NO.
2246 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026 H.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII S.D.

HD1

Hawaii published version HD1

Plain English: HB2246 HD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.

HB2246 HD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.
NO.
2246 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026 H.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL GRANT ADMINISTRATION .

SD1

Hawaii published version SD1

Plain English: HB2246 SD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.

HB2246 SD1 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES H.B.
NO.
2246 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026 H.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII S.D.

Bill History

2026-05-08 S
Received notice of passage on Final Reading in House (Hse. Com. No. 888).
2026-05-07 H
Transmitted to Governor.
2026-05-06 H
Passed Final Reading as amended in CD 1 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0).
2026-05-05 H
Received notice of Final Reading (Sen. Com. No. 814).
2026-05-01 S
Passed Final Reading, as amended (CD 1). Ayes, 24; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 1 (Senator(s) Fukunaga).
2026-05-01 H
Deferred one day 05-06-26.
2026-04-29 S
48 Hrs. Notice (as amended CD 1) 05-01-26
2026-04-29 S
Reported from Conference Committee as amended CD 1 (Conf. Com. Rep. No. 18-26).
2026-04-29 H
Forty-eight (48) hours notice Friday, 05-01-26.
2026-04-29 H
Reported from Conference Committee (Conf Com. Rep. No. 18-26) as amended in (CD 1).
2026-04-27 S
The Conference committee recommends that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes of the Senate Conference Managers were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) Gabbard, Richards, DeCoite; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.
2026-04-27 H
The Conference Committee recommends that the measure be Passed, with Amendments. The votes were as follows: 3 Ayes: Representative(s) Chun, Kusch, Matsumoto; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.
2026-04-27 H
Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 760).
2026-04-24 S
Conference committee meeting scheduled for 04-27-26 9:15AM; Conference Room 325.
2026-04-24 S
Senate Conferees Appointed: Gabbard Chair; Richards Co-Chair; DeCoite.
2026-04-21 S
Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 799).
2026-04-21 H
House Conferees Appointed: Chun, Kusch Co-Chairs; Matsumoto.
2026-04-16 S
Received notice of disagreement (Hse. Com. No. 599).
2026-04-14 H
House disagrees with Senate amendment (s).
2026-04-10 H
Returned from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 550) in amended form (SD 1).
2026-04-10 S
Report Adopted; Passed Third Reading. Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House.
2026-04-09 S
One Day Notice 04-10-26.
2026-04-09 S
Reported from WAM (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3630) with recommendation of passage on Third Reading.
2026-04-07 S
The committee(s) on WAM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in WAM were as follows: 12 Aye(s): Senator(s) Dela Cruz, Moriwaki, DeCoite, Elefante, Hashimoto, Inouye, Kanuha, Kidani, Kim, Richards, Wakai, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Lee, C..
2026-04-02 S
The committee(s) on WAM will hold a public decision making on 04-07-26 10:31AM; Conference Room 211 & Videoconference.
2026-03-30 S
Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM.
2026-03-30 S
Reported from AEN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3224) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.
2026-03-23 S
The committee(s) on AEN recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in AEN were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Gabbard, Richards, Rhoads, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) DeCoite.
2026-03-20 S
The committee(s) on AEN has scheduled a public hearing on 03-23-26 3:00PM; Conference Room 224 & Videoconference.
2026-03-10 S
Referred to AEN, WAM.
2026-03-10 S
Passed First Reading.
2026-03-10 S
Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 198).
2026-03-06 H
Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Perruso, Sayama excused (2). Transmitted to Senate.
2026-03-06 H
Reported from FIN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 921-26), recommending passage on Third Reading.
2026-03-03 H
The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 16 Ayes: Representative(s) Todd, Takenouchi, Hartsfield, Hussey, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Kitagawa, Kusch, Lee, M., Miyake, Morikawa, Perruso, Templo, Yamashita, Alcos, Gedeon, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.
2026-02-27 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by FIN on Tuesday, 03-03-26 2:00PM in House conference room 308 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-02-17 H
Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cochran, Lee, M., Poepoe excused (3).
2026-02-17 H
Reported from AGR (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 323-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.
2026-02-11 H
The committee on AGR recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 5 Ayes: Representative(s) Chun, Kusch, Kahaloa, Perruso, Matsumoto; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Lowen, Quinlan.
2026-02-06 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by AGR on Wednesday, 02-11-26 9:30AM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-01-30 H
Referred to AGR, FIN, referral sheet 5
2026-01-28 H
Introduced and Pass First Reading.
2026-01-26 H
Pending introduction.

Official Summary Text

RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL GRANT ADMINISTRATION.
DAB; Agricultural Grant Program; Revolving Fund; Annual Report ($)
Establishes the Agricultural Grant Program and Agricultural Grant Revolving Fund to allow the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity to retain and expend federal indirect overhead reimbursements for the purposes of grant searching, application, execution, reporting, and auditing. (CD1)

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

HB2246

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2246

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING
TO AGRICULTURAL GRANT ADMINISTRATION
.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

����
SECTION 1.
�
The legislature finds that federal
agricultural grants provide financial support to Hawaii
'
s
agricultural industry.
�
The department of
agriculture and biosecurity actively pursues these federal grants and has
recently hired a grant writer, whose efforts have yielded great results.
�
Since November 2024, $8,899,450.16 in federal
grant funds have been obtained from the United States Department of Agriculture
and another $5,285,000 in grants have applications in process.
�
Many of the federal grants being pursued by
the department provide for indirect overhead reimbursements or an allowable
management fee to reimburse the State for costs associated with management of certain
federal grants.
�
The establishment of a formal
agricultural grant program and a revolving fund would allow the department to
retain these funds and cover a portion of the program costs.
�
Funds from the revolving fund would be used
to search for additional grant opportunities, develop program applications to
monitor grant execution, ensure compliance with grant requirements, and to
audit grant expenditures.
�
Moneys in the
fund will also be used for consultant services and operational expenses.

����
SECTION
2.
�
Chapter 141, Hawaii Revised Statutes,
is amended by adding to part I, two new sections to be appropriately designated
and to read as follows:

����
"
�141-
�
��
Agricultural
grant program; established.

�
(a)

�
There is established in the department
of agriculture and biosecurity an agricultural grant program to search, apply,
and administer federal agricultural grant opportunties that could benefit the
Hawaii agricultural industry.

����
(b)
�
The department of agriculture and biosecurity
may retain and expend federal indirect overhead reimbursements for grants as
determined by the chairperson of the board of agriculture and biosecurity.

����
�141-
�
��
Agricultural
grant revolving fund.
�
(a)
�
There is established in the state treasury an
agricultural grant revolving fund into which shall be deposited the department
of agriculture and biosecurity
'
s share of federal indirect
overhead reimbursements, pursuant to section 141-
�
.
�
The
department of agriculture and biosecurity may expend funds in the agricultural
grant revolving fund to search for discretionary grants, develop program
applications to secure additional revenues for the department of agriculture
and biosecurity, monitor grant execution, ensure compliance with grant
requirements, and audit grant expenditures.
�

Moneys in the revolving fund may be expended for consultant services and
operational expenses, including the hiring of temporary staff.

����
(b)
�
The department of agriculture and biosecurity
shall prepare and submit an annual report on the status of federal agricultural
grants revolving fund to the legislature.
�

The annual report shall include but not be limited to a list of the
grant applications to federal agencies and the grant awards received.
"

����
SECTION
3.
�
New statutory material is
underscored.

����
SECTION
4.
�
This Act, upon its approval, shall
take effect on July 1, 2026.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

BY REQUEST

Report Title:

DAB;
Agricultural Grant Program; Revolving Fund; Annual Report

Description:

Creates
an agricultural grant program and revolving fund for the purposes of grant
application, execution, reporting and auditing to be administered by the
Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity.
�

Effective July 1, 2026.

The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.