2025 legislative session kicks off with focus on affordable housing, fireworks regulations

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The 33rd Hawaii State Legislature is convening Wednesday morning to welcome new members, including Hawaii’s first female speaker of the House, and to work on a number of bills to improve the lives of Hawaii residents.

Affordable housing, education, agriculture, air service to neighbor islands, fireworks regulations and Hawaiian Homes are among some of the top priorities for lawmakers this session.

HNN Sunrise caught up with some of the lawmakers ahead of the session, including Senate President Ronald D. Kouchi, House Minority Leader Lauren Matsumoto, Senate Minority Leader Brenton Awa, House Vice Speaker Linda Ichiyama, Senate Assistant Majority Whip Jarrett Keohokalole, House Speaker Nadine K. Nakamura and Senate Assistant Majority Leader Lynn DeCoite.

“As we begin the 33rd Legislature, our focus remains on tackling the cost of living and improving the quality of life for Hawaii’s residents. Local families deserve to not only live in Hawaii but thrive here. To achieve this, we are focusing on critical areas such as housing, homelessness, infrastructure, economic development, public safety, agriculture, and biosecurity,” said House Majority Leader Sean Quinlan.

Republicans in both the house and senate are hopeful they could find more success this session passing legislation, but remain skeptical that the majority party will continue in 2025 with “politics as usual.”

“It’s too early to tell, we will have to wait and see. When I first came in there was a lot of politics,” said Senate Minority Leader Brenton Awa.

Awa is pushing his “About Time” bill that would restrict foreign interests from buying agricultural land in Hawaii.

“There are 24 other states in the country that do this so if Hawaii passed this legislation, we would be a leader in showing bipartisanship on this issue,” added Awa.

Another issue that is top of mind for Hawaii home-owners and condo renters is the growing cost of insurance.

Senate Assistant Majority Whip Jarrett Keohokalole is chair of the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee and also sits on a task for created by Governor Green to monitor the insurance industry and find solutions.

“I think the top priority is stabilizing the market and making sure that people have access to insurance. You can’t purchase a property unless you’re able to pay insurance and things like the disasters that keep coming with greater intensity and frequency - like what’s going on right now in Los Angeles; It’s really destabilizing the market to where people can’t find policies for prices they are accustom to,” Keohokalole said.

Part of the solution maybe working to bring more insurers into the Hawaii market to help make rates more competitive.

“That is definitely part of the conversation as well as working with the insurers, underwriters and the building community to make sure that we have the best practices in place — that owners know what steps they can take to make their home more resistant to things like wildfires,” added Keohokalole.

The 33rd legislative session runs until May 2.

To learn more about your lawmakers and follow their actions on the house and senate floor, click here.

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.