# Hawaii SB 2919: RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER.

Hawaii SB 2919, RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER., is a 2025–2026 Regular Session (Year 2) Senate bill sponsored by Karl Rhoads (Democratic); status failed, last action 2026-05-01 (Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 5:40 PM; Conference Room 325.) (as of 2026-11-01).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/HI-SB2919-2026
- As of: 2026-11-01
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: Hawaii SB 2919
- State: Hawaii
- Session: 2025–2026 Regular Session (Year 2)
- Title: RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC DEFENDER.
- Status: failed
- Chamber: Senate
- Introduced: 2026-01-23
- Last action: 2026-05-01, Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 5:40 PM; Conference Room 325.
- Sponsor: Karl Rhoads (Democratic)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Subjects: Office of the Public Defender, Position, Appropriation, JHA, FIN
- Touches household money: no
- Roll calls: 7 (156 yes, 5 no in all)
- Economic provisions PRIA read: 0

## Summary

Appropriates funds to the Office of the Public Defender for one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) Deputy Public Defender III position. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)

## Bill overview

No economic impacts identified for this bill.

## Sponsors and cosponsors

- Sponsor: Karl Rhoads (Democratic), Senate

## Roll call votes

| Date | Chamber | Motion | Result | Yes | No | Other |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-04-14 | House | House Floor Vote | pass | 47 | 3 |   |
| 2026-04-07 | House | The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes ... | pass | 15 | 0 |   |
| 2026-03-25 | House | Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on FIN... | pass | 47 | 1 |   |
| 2026-03-19 | House | The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The ... | pass | 7 | 1 |   |
| 2026-02-25 | Senate | Senate Floor Vote | pass | 24 | 0 |   |
| 2026-02-19 | Senate | The committee(s) on WAM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENT... | pass | 11 | 0 |   |
| 2026-02-10 | Senate | The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The... | pass | 5 | 0 |   |

## Actions (41)

- 2026-05-01: Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 05-01-26 5:40 PM; Conference Room 325. (Senate)
- 2026-04-30: Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Friday 05-01-26 2:00PM in conference room 325. (House)
- 2026-04-29: Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-30-26 2:00PM; Conference Room 325. (Senate)
- 2026-04-28: Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-29-26 2:00PM; CR 325. (Senate)
- 2026-04-27: Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Tuesday 04-28-26 2:00PM in conference room 325. (House)
- 2026-04-24: Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Monday 04-27-26 2:00PM in conference room 325. (House)
- 2026-04-23: Conference committee meeting to reconvene on 04-24-26 3:10PM; Conference Room 325. (Senate)
- 2026-04-22: Conference committee meeting scheduled for 04-23-26 2:35PM; Conference Room 325. (Senate)
- 2026-04-21: Senate Conferees Appointed: Rhoads Chair; Elefante Co-Chair; Awa. (Senate)
- 2026-04-21: Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 718). (House)
- 2026-04-20: House Conferees Appointed: Tarnas, Kusch Co-Chairs; Poepoe, Garcia. (House)
- 2026-04-20: Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 787). (Senate)
- 2026-04-16: Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 714). (Senate)
- 2026-04-16: Senate disagrees with House amendments. (Senate)
- 2026-04-16: Received notice of disagreement (Sen. Com. No. 710). (House)
- 2026-04-14: Passed Third Reading with Representative(s) Shimizu voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Alcos, Garcia, Pierick voting no (3) and Representative(s) Quinlan excused (1). Transmitted to Senate. (House)
- 2026-04-10: Reported from FIN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2073-26), recommending passage on Third Reading. (House)
- 2026-04-10: Deferred one day 04-14-26. (House)
- 2026-04-07: 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. (House)
- 2026-04-02: The committee(s) on FIN recommend(s) that the measure be deferred until 04-07-26. (House)
- 2026-04-02: Bill scheduled for decision making on Tuesday, 04-07-26 10:10AM in conference room 308 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE. (House)
- 2026-03-31: Bill scheduled to be heard by FIN on Thursday, 04-02-26 2:00PM in House conference room 308 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE. (House)
- 2026-03-25: Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1416-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN. (House)
- 2026-03-25: Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on FIN with Representative(s) Alcos, Garcia voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Pierick voting no (1) and Representative(s) Matsumoto, Perruso excused (2). (House)
- 2026-03-19: The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 7 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Hashem, Kahaloa, Takayama, Cochran, Shimizu; Ayes with reservations: none; 1 Noes: Representative(s) Garcia; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Belatti, Sayama. (House)
- 2026-03-17: Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Thursday, 03-19-26 2:00PM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE. (House)
- 2026-03-10: Referred to JHA, FIN, referral sheet 15 (House)
- 2026-03-05: Pass First Reading (House)
- 2026-02-25: Report Adopted; Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). Ayes, 24; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 1 (Senator(s) Kidani). Transmitted to House. (Senate)
- 2026-02-25: Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 18) in amended form (SD 1). (House)
- 2026-02-23: Reported from WAM (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2704) with recommendation of passage on Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). (Senate)
- 2026-02-23: 48 Hrs. Notice 02-25-26. (Senate)
- 2026-02-19: The committee(s) on WAM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in WAM were as follows: 11 Aye(s): Senator(s) Dela Cruz, Moriwaki, DeCoite, Elefante, Hashimoto, Inouye, Kanuha, Kim, Lee, C., Wakai, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 2 Excused: Senator(s) Kidani, Richards. (Senate)
- 2026-02-13: The committee(s) on WAM will hold a public decision making on 02-19-26 10:30AM; Conference Room 211 & Videoconference. (Senate)
- 2026-02-11: Reported from JDC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2203) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading and referral to WAM. (Senate)
- 2026-02-11: Report adopted; Passed Second Reading and referred to WAM. (Senate)
- 2026-02-10: The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in JDC were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Rhoads, Gabbard, Chang, San Buenaventura, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none. (Senate)
- 2026-02-05: The committee(s) on JDC has scheduled a public hearing on 02-10-26 9:15AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference. (Senate)
- 2026-01-30: Referred to JDC, WAM. (Senate)
- 2026-01-26: Passed First Reading. (Senate)
- 2026-01-23: Introduced. (Senate)

## Bill text

- Bill Text: [PDF](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2919_HD1_.pdf)
- Original: [HTML](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2919_.HTM), [PDF](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2919_.PDF)
- SB2919_HD1: [HTML](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2919_HD1_.HTM)
- SB2919_SD1: [HTML](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2919_SD1_.HTM)

## Related bills

- SB 847: RELATING TO PSYCHOLOGISTS. (became law)
- SB 2338: RELATING TO HOUSING. (signed)
- HB 2344: RELATING TO SCHOOL FACILITIES. (signed)
- HB 2023: RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION. (signed)
- HB 2021: RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION. (signed)
- SB 2866: RELATING TO KUPUNA HOUSING. (signed)

## Sources
- [Bill Text (PDF)](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2919_HD1_.pdf)
- [Original (HTML)](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2919_.HTM)
- [Original (PDF)](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2919_.PDF)
- [SB2919_HD1 (HTML)](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2919_HD1_.HTM)
- [SB2919_SD1 (HTML)](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2919_SD1_.HTM)

## Related
- [SB 847: RELATING TO PSYCHOLOGISTS.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/HI-SB847-2026)
- [SB 2338: RELATING TO HOUSING.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/HI-SB2338-2026)
- [HB 2344: RELATING TO SCHOOL FACILITIES.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/HI-HB2344-2026)
- [HB 2023: RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/HI-HB2023-2026)
- [HB 2021: RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/HI-HB2021-2026)
- [SB 2866: RELATING TO KUPUNA HOUSING.](https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/HI-SB2866-2026)
- [Hawaii bills](https://policyrisk.com/states/hawaii/bills)
- [Hawaii state hub](https://policyrisk.com/states/hawaii)
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Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/state-bill/HI-SB2919-2026 (as of 2026-11-01).