SB2319 • 2026

RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND BIOSECURITY.

Agriculture Budget

Active

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

Sponsor: GABBARD, CHANG, KANUHA, RICHARDS
Last action: 2026-04-23
Official status: Conference committee meeting scheduled for 04-24-26 11:00AM; Conference Room 325.
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 THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND BIOSECURITY.

What This Bill Does

RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND BIOSECURITY.
DAB; Grant Writer; Position; Permanent; Appropriation ($) Appropriates funds for one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) grant writer position within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity and converts the position from temporary to permanent.
Effective 7/1/3000.
(HD1)

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: SB2319 HD1 THE SENATE S.B.

SB2319 HD1 THE SENATE S.B.
NO.
2319 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026 S.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII H.D.

SD1

Hawaii published version SD1

Plain English: SB2319 SD1 THE SENATE S.B.

SB2319 SD1 THE SENATE S.B.
NO.
2319 THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026 S.D.
1 STATE OF HAWAII A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND BIOSECURITY .

Bill History

2026-04-23 S
Conference committee meeting scheduled for 04-24-26 11:00AM; Conference Room 325.
2026-04-21 H
Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 718).
2026-04-21 S
Senate Conferees Appointed: Gabbard Chair; Richards Co-Chair; Awa.
2026-04-20 S
Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 787).
2026-04-20 H
House Conferees Appointed: Chun, Kusch Co-Chairs; Matsumoto.
2026-04-10 H
Received notice of disagreement (Sen. Com. No. 564).
2026-04-10 S
Senate disagrees with House amendments.
2026-04-10 S
Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 504).
2026-04-09 H
Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Pierick voting no (1) and Representative(s) Cochran excused (1). Transmitted to Senate.
2026-04-09 H
Reported from FIN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1994-26), recommending passage on Third Reading.
2026-04-07 H
The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 15 Ayes: Representative(s) Todd, Takenouchi, Hartsfield, Hussey, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Kitagawa, Kusch, Lee, M., Miyake, Perruso, Templo, Yamashita, Alcos, Gedeon, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Morikawa.
2026-04-02 H
Bill scheduled for decision making on Tuesday, 04-07-26 10:10AM in conference room 308 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-04-02 H
The committee(s) on FIN recommend(s) that the measure be deferred until 04-07-26.
2026-03-31 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by FIN on Thursday, 04-02-26 2:00PM in House conference room 308 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-03-24 H
Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Pierick voting no (1) and Representative(s) Garrett, Quinlan excused (2).
2026-03-24 H
Reported from AGR (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1387-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.
2026-03-20 H
The committee on AGR recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 6 Ayes: Representative(s) Chun, Kusch, Kahaloa, Lowen, Perruso, Matsumoto; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Quinlan.
2026-03-17 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by AGR on Friday, 03-20-26 9:30AM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-03-12 H
This measure has been deleted from the meeting scheduled on Friday 03-13-26 10:00AM in conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-03-11 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by AGR on Friday, 03-13-26 10:00AM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2026-03-10 H
Referred to AGR, FIN, referral sheet 16
2026-03-10 H
Pass First Reading
2026-03-06 H
Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 47) in amended form (SD 1).
2026-03-06 S
Report Adopted; Passed Third Reading. Ayes, 24; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 1 (Senator(s) Ihara). Transmitted to House.
2026-03-05 S
One Day Notice 03-06-26.
2026-03-05 S
Reported from WAM (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2775) with recommendation of passage on Third Reading.
2026-03-02 S
The committee(s) on WAM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in WAM were as follows: 13 Aye(s): Senator(s) Dela Cruz, Moriwaki, DeCoite, Elefante, Hashimoto, Inouye, Kanuha, Kidani, Kim, Lee, C., Richards, Wakai, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.
2026-02-25 S
The committee(s) on WAM deferred the measure until 03-02-26 10:01AM; Conference Room 211 & Videoconference.
2026-02-23 S
The committee(s) on WAM will hold a public decision making on 02-25-26 10:55AM; Conference Room 211 & Videoconference.
2026-02-13 S
Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM.
2026-02-13 S
Reported from AEN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2235) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.
2026-02-04 S
The committee(s) on AEN recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in AEN were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Gabbard, Richards, DeCoite, Rhoads, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none.
2026-01-30 S
The committee(s) on AEN has scheduled a public hearing on 02-04-26 3:00PM; Conference Room 224 & Videoconference.
2026-01-26 S
Referred to AEN, WAM.
2026-01-21 S
Introduced and passed First Reading.
2026-01-15 S
Pending Introduction.

Official Summary Text

RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND BIOSECURITY.
DAB; Grant Writer; Position; Permanent; Appropriation ($)
Appropriates funds for one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) grant writer position within the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity and converts the position from temporary to permanent. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

SB2319

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

2319

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating
to the department of agriculture and biosecurity
.

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

����
SECTION 1.
�
The
legislature finds that Act 230, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024, converted one
full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) permanent grant writer position within the
department of agriculture and biosecurity to a temporary position.
�
The legislature believes that this grant
writer position is necessary to reduce reliance on temporary or ad hoc
contracting and improve long-term grant competitiveness, and therefore, the
position should remain permanent.

����
Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to
appropriate funds for the existing temporary grant writer position within the
department of agriculture and biosecurity and to make the position permanent.

����
SECTION 2.
�

There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii
the sum of $ or so
much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2026-2027 to fund one full-time
equivalent (1.0 FTE) grant writer position within the department of agriculture
and biosecurity for the identification of, application for, and management of
federal and private grants in support of agriculture, biosecurity, food
security, and climate resiliency programs, to reduce reliance on ad hoc
contracting and improve long-term grant competitiveness; provided that the
amount appropriated and position funded pursuant to this section shall be
included in the base budget for the department of agriculture and biosecurity
in future fiscal bienniums.

����
The sum appropriated shall be expended by
the department of agriculture and biosecurity for the purposes of this Act.

����
SECTION 3.
�
This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2026.

INTRODUCED
BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

DAB; Grant
Writer; Position; Permanent; Appropriation

Description:

Appropriates
funds for one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) grant writer position within the
Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity and converts the position from
temporary to permanent.

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