SB1421 • 2026

RELATING TO MEDICAL RECORDS.

Healthcare

Active

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

Sponsor: KOUCHI (Introduced by request of another party)
Last action: 2026-04-02
Official status: Received notice of the discharge of all House Conferees (Hse. Com. No. 457).
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 MEDICAL RECORDS.

What This Bill Does

RELATING TO MEDICAL RECORDS.
DOH; Retention and Preservation of Medical Records; Health Care Providers; Repeal; Ceasing Operations Repeals the requirement for the Department of Health to approve a health care provider's arrangement for the retention and preservation of patients' medical records before the provider ceases operations.
Clarifies that retention and preservation of medical records must be consistent with federal and state regulations and requires providers to notify patients on how to access or request copies of their medical records.
Effective 7/1/3000.

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.

HD1

Hawaii published version HD1

Plain English: SB1421 HD1 THE SENATE S.B.

SB1421 HD1 THE SENATE S.B.
NO.
1421 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025 S.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII H.D.

HD2

Hawaii published version HD2

Plain English: SB1421 HD2 THE SENATE S.B.

SB1421 HD2 THE SENATE S.B.
NO.
1421 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025 S.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII H.D.

SD1

Hawaii published version SD1

Plain English: SB1421 SD1 THE SENATE S.B.

SB1421 SD1 THE SENATE S.B.
NO.
1421 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025 S.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEDICAL RECORDS .

Bill History

2026-04-02 S
Received notice of the discharge of all House Conferees (Hse. Com. No. 457).
2026-04-01 H
House Conferee(s) discharged.
2026-03-20 H
Received notice of all Senate conferees being discharged (Sen. Com. No. 409).
2026-03-20 S
Senate Conferee(s) discharged.
2025-12-08 D
Carried over to 2026 Regular Session.
2025-04-22 S
Conference committee meeting scheduled for 04-23-25 3:30PM; Conference Room 329.
2025-04-15 H
Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 789).
2025-04-15 S
Senate Conferees Appointed: San Buenaventura Chair; Chang Co-Chair; Hashimoto, Fevella.
2025-04-15 S
Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 731).
2025-04-14 H
House Conferees Appointed: Takayama, Poepoe Co-Chairs; Garcia.
2025-04-08 H
Received notice of disagreement (Sen. Com. No. 774).
2025-04-08 S
Senate disagrees with House amendments.
2025-04-08 S
Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 610).
2025-04-04 H
Passed Third Reading as amended in HD 2 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cochran excused (1). Transmitted to Senate.
2025-04-02 H
Forty-eight (48) hours notice Friday, 04-04-25.
2025-04-02 H
Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1781) as amended in HD 2, recommending passage on Third Reading.
2025-03-25 H
The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 10 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Belatti, Cochran, Hashem, Perruso, Takayama, Todd, Garcia, Shimizu; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Kahaloa.
2025-03-21 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Tuesday, 03-25-25 2:00PM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2025-03-18 H
Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on JHA with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cochran, Ward excused (2).
2025-03-18 H
Reported from HLT (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1305) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to JHA.
2025-03-14 H
The committee on HLT recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Takayama, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Amato, Chun, Marten, Olds, Takenouchi, Alcos, Garcia; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 0 Excused: none.
2025-03-11 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by HLT on Friday, 03-14-25 9:00AM in House conference room 329 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2025-03-06 H
Referred to HLT, JHA, referral sheet 19
2025-03-06 H
Pass First Reading
2025-03-04 H
Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 327) in amended form (SD 1).
2025-03-04 S
Report adopted; Passed Third Reading. Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none . Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House.
2025-02-28 S
One Day Notice 03-04-25.
2025-02-28 S
Reported from JDC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 974) with recommendation of passage on Third Reading.
2025-02-26 S
The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in JDC were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Rhoads, Gabbard, Chang, San Buenaventura; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Awa.
2025-02-21 S
The committee(s) on JDC will hold a public decision making on 02-26-25 9:40AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference.
2025-02-12 S
Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to JDC.
2025-02-12 S
Reported from HHS (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 326) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to JDC.
2025-02-03 S
The committee(s) on HHS recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in HHS were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) San Buenaventura, Aquino, Hashimoto, Keohokalole, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.
2025-01-31 S
The committee(s) on HHS has scheduled a public hearing on 02-03-25 1:00PM; Conference Room 225 & Videoconference.
2025-01-27 S
Referred to HHS, JDC.
2025-01-23 S
Introduced and passed First Reading.
2025-01-21 S
Pending Introduction.

Official Summary Text

RELATING TO MEDICAL RECORDS.
DOH; Retention and Preservation of Medical Records; Health Care Providers; Repeal; Ceasing Operations
Repeals the requirement for the Department of Health to approve a health care provider's arrangement for the retention and preservation of patients' medical records before the provider ceases operations. Clarifies that retention and preservation of medical records must be consistent with federal and state regulations and requires providers to notify patients on how to access or request copies of their medical records. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD2)

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

SB1421

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1421

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO
MEDICAL RECORDS
.

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

����
SECTION 1.
�
The legislature finds that
health care providers and health care systems have internal
policies and procedures, external accreditation requirements, and regulations
from federal agencies such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
that ensure the retention and preservation of medical records.
�
The legislature further finds that
the department of health
's role
in approving plans for the
disposition
of patients
'
medical records when a health care provider ceases
operations is no longer necessary.

����
The
purpose of this Act is to
repeal the requirement for the department of health
to approve a provider's arrangements for the
retention
and preservation of patients
'

medical records prior to ceasing operations.

����
SECTION 2.
�
Section
622-58, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (e) to read
as follows:

����
"
(e)
�
The health care
provider, or the health care provider's successor, shall be liable for the
preservation of basic information from the medical record for twenty-five years
after the last entry, except in the case of minors, whose records shall be
retained during the period of minority plus twenty-five years after the minor
reaches the age of majority.
�
If the
health care provider is succeeded by another entity, the
burden
of compliance with this section shall rest with the
successor.
�
Before a provider ceases
operations, the provider shall make immediate arrangements[
, subject to the
approval of the department of health,
] for the retention and preservation
of the medical records [
in keeping with the intent of this section.
]
consistent
with federal and state regulations.
"

����
SECTION 3.
�

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

����
SECTION 4.
�

This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

BY REQUEST

Report Title:

DOH; Retention of Medical
Records; Repeal

Description:

Repeals the requirement
for the Department of Health to approve a provider
's arrangement for the retention and preservation of
patients' medical records prior to ceasing operations.
�
Clarifies that retention and preservation of
medical records must be consistent with federal and state regulations.

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