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HB479 • 2026

RELATING TO THE TIP CREDIT.

RELATING TO THE TIP CREDIT.

Labor
Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
SAYAMA, HOLT, KILA, LAMOSAO, MARTEN, MATAYOSHI, MIYAKE, TARNAS
Last action
2025-12-08
Official status
Carried over to 2026 Regular Session.
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide details about removing outdated provisions or specifying annual adjustments based on changes in the minimum wage.

Increasing Tip Credit Percentage

This bill increases the tip credit percentage to twenty percent of the minimum wage starting January 1, 2026, and requires DLIR to annually adjust this amount.

What This Bill Does

  • Increases the tip credit percentage to twenty percent of the minimum wage beginning on January 1, 2026.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Employers who pay tipped employees, such as those working in restaurants or hotels.
  • Tipped employees who receive tips and have their wages adjusted by these credits.

Terms To Know

Tip Credit
The amount an employer can claim from a worker's minimum wage requirement based on the tips earned by that employee.
Minimum Wage
The lowest hourly, daily or monthly rate of pay that employers may legally pay to most employees for their work.

Limits and Unknowns

  • It is unclear how this change will affect the overall earnings of tipped workers.
  • The bill does not specify what happens if tips do not cover the full minimum wage after applying the tip credit percentage.

Bill History

  1. 2025-12-08 D

    Carried over to 2026 Regular Session.

  2. 2025-01-21 H

    Referred to LAB, FIN, referral sheet 2

  3. 2025-01-21 H

    Introduced and Pass First Reading.

  4. 2025-01-17 H

    Pending introduction.

Official Summary Text

RELATING TO THE TIP CREDIT.
DLIR; Tip Credit; Minimum Wage; Employment
Beginning 1/1/2026, increases the tip credit to be twenty per cent of the minimum wage and requires the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to annually calculate an adjusted tip credit amount.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
HB479

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

479

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING
TO THE TIP CREDIT
.

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

����
SECTION
1
.
�
Section 387-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended to read as follows:

����
"
�387-2
�

Minimum wages[
.
]
; tip
credit.
�
(a)
�
Except as provided in section 387-9 and this
section, every employer shall pay to each employee employed by the employer,
wages at the rate of not less than:

����
(1)
�
$6.25 per hour beginning January 1,
2003;

����
(2)
�
$6.75 per hour beginning January 1,
2006;

����
(3)
�
$7.25 per hour beginning January 1,
2007;

����
(4)
�
$7.75 per hour beginning January 1,
2015;

����
(5)
�
$8.50 per hour beginning January 1,
2016;

����
(6)
�
$9.25 per hour beginning January 1, 2017;

����
(7)
�
$10.10 per hour beginning January 1,
2018;

����
(8)
�
$12.00 per hour beginning October 1,
2022;

����
(9)
�
$14.00 per hour beginning January 1,
2024;

���
(10)
�
$16.00 per hour beginning January 1,
2026; and

���
(11)
�
$18.00 per hour beginning January 1,
2028.

����
(b)
�
The hourly wage of a tipped employee
may be deemed to be increased on account of tips if the employee is paid [
no
]

not
less than:

����
(1)
�
25 cents;

����
(2)
�
50 cents per hour beginning January 1,
2015;

����
(3)
�
75 cents per hour beginning January 1,
2016;

����
(4)
�
$1.00 per hour beginning October 1, 2022;

and

����
(5)
�
[
$1.25 per hour
]
An amount
calculated pursuant to subsection (c) for each year
beginning January 1, [
2024;
]

2026,
[
and

����
(6)
�
$1.50 per hour beginning January 1,
2028,
]

below the
applicable minimum wage by the employee's employer and the combined amount the
employee receives from the employee's employer and in tips is at least 50 cents
more than the applicable minimum wage; provided that beginning January 1, 2015,
the combined amount the employee receives from the employee's employer and in
tips is at least $7.00 more than the applicable minimum wage.

����
(c)
�

Beginning January 1, 2026, and each year thereafter, the department
shall calculate an adjusted tip credit amount to be effective on the following
January 1.
�
The adjusted tip credit
amount shall be calculated by adjusting the effective tip credit amount to be
equal to twenty per cent of the effective minimum wage as determined pursuant
to subsection (a).
"

����
SECTION 2.
�

Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.
�
New statutory material is underscored.

����
SECTION 3.
�

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

DLIR; Tip
Credit; Minimum Wage; Employment

Description:

Beginning
1/1/2026, increases the tip credit to be twenty per cent of the minimum wage
and requires the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to annually
calculate an adjusted tip credit amount.

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