---
type: "Bill"
title: "RELATING TO CLAIMS AGAINST THE STATE."
description: "Increases the Comptroller's settlement authority for tort and automobile claims to $25,000. (SD1)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/hi"
legislature: "Hawaii Legislature"
session: "2019 Regular Session"
identifier: "HB 356"
citation: "Hawaii HB 356 (2019 Regular Session)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Claims Against the State", "Risk Management Fund"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["SAIKI"]
version_count: 2
action_count: 44
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-01-18"
last_action: "2019-06-25"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c7fb4bb0-e0ca-4587-9805-2849353e2fc7"
source_url: "http://capitol.hawaii.gov/Archives/measure_indiv_Archives8-12.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=356&year=2019"
source_hash: "a246176b38ddce23c0e1735ab968cfb477abc74d31554bb1eadbced52e7786f7"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-hi"]
---

# Hawaii HB 356 (2019 Regular Session) — RELATING TO CLAIMS AGAINST THE STATE.

Increases the Comptroller's settlement authority for tort and automobile claims to $25,000. (SD1)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HB356** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2019/bills/HB356_.HTM)
2. **HB356_HD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2019/bills/HB356_HD1_.HTM)

## Votes

- The House Conference Managers recommend to agree to the Senate Amendments. — **2–0** (fail) · lower
- The committee(s) on WAM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — **9–0** (pass) · upper
- The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- The committees on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- The committees on JUD recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- The committee(s) on GVO recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **4–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- SAIKI — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-01-18** Pending introduction.
- **2019-01-22** Introduced and Pass First Reading. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2019-01-22** Referred to JUD, FIN, referral sheet 3 `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-05** Bill scheduled to be heard by JUD on Thursday, 02-07-19 2:05PM in House conference room 325.
- **2019-02-07** The committee(s) on JUD recommend(s) that the measure be deferred until 02-08-19.
- **2019-02-07** Bill scheduled for decision making on Friday, 02-08-19 2:00PM in conference room 325.
- **2019-02-08** The committees on JUD recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) C. Lee, San Buenaventura, Brower, Creagan, Lowen, Morikawa, Say, Takayama, Yamane; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) McKelvey, Thielen. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-02-13** Reported from JUD (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 335), recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.
- **2019-02-13** Passed Second Reading and referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Holt, McDermott, Mizuno, Nakamura, Ward excused (5). `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2019-02-16** Bill scheduled to be heard by FIN on Thursday, 02-21-19 1:30PM in House conference room 308.
- **2019-02-21** The committees on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 14 Ayes: Representative(s) Luke, Cullen, Eli, Gates, Hashimoto, Holt, Kitagawa, B. Kobayashi, Matayoshi, Nakamura, Nishimoto, Wildberger, Yamashita, McDermott; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Todd. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-01** Reported from FIN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1228) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Third Reading.
- **2019-03-01** Forty-eight (48) hours notice Tuesday, 03-05-19.
- **2019-03-05** Passed Third Reading as amended in HD 1 with Representative(s) Har, Okimoto voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0). Transmitted to Senate. `passage`
- **2019-03-07** Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 370). `introduction`
- **2019-03-07** Passed First Reading. `reading-1`
- **2019-03-07** Referred to GVO, JDC/WAM. `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-08** The committee(s) on GVO has scheduled a public hearing on 03-12-19 2:45PM in conference room 225.
- **2019-03-12** The committee(s) on GVO recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in GVO were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) L. Thielen, Inouye, Baker, Kanuha; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Fevella. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-21** Reported from GVO (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1365) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to JDC/WAM.
- **2019-03-21** Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to JDC/WAM.
- **2019-03-29** The committee(s) on JDC/WAM will hold a public decision making on 04-03-19 10:00AM in conference room 211.
- **2019-04-03** 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) K. Rhoads, Wakai, Gabbard, Kim, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-03** The committee(s) on WAM recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in WAM were as follows: 9 Aye(s): Senator(s) Dela Cruz, Keith-Agaran, Inouye, Kanuha, Kidani, Moriwaki, Shimabukuro, Taniguchi, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 4 Excused: Senator(s) English, Harimoto, K. Kahele, Riviere. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-05** Reported from JDC/WAM (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1902) with recommendation of passage on Third Reading.
- **2019-04-05** One Day Notice 04-09-19.
- **2019-04-09** Report adopted; Passed Third Reading. Ayes, 25; Aye(s) with reservations: none . Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House. `passage`
- **2019-04-09** Returned from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 724) in amended form (SD 1).
- **2019-04-11** House disagrees with Senate amendment (s).
- **2019-04-12** Received notice of disagreement (Hse. Com. No. 804).
- **2019-04-15** House Conferees Appointed: San Buenaventura, Gates Co-Chairs; Thielen.
- **2019-04-15** Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 808).
- **2019-04-18** Senate Conferees Appointed: L. Thielen Chair; K. Rhoads, Keith-Agaran Co-Chairs; Fevella.
- **2019-04-18** Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 917).
- **2019-04-22** Bill scheduled for Conference Committee Meeting on Wednesday, 04-24-19 2:00PM in conference room 325.
- **2019-04-24** The House Conference Managers recommend to agree to the Senate Amendments. The votes were as follows: 2 Ayes: Representative(s) San Buenaventura, Gates; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Thielen.
- **2019-04-26** Reconsideration of action taken on 04-11-19.
- **2019-04-30** Received notice of House reconsideration of action in disagreeing to the amendments proposed by the Senate (Hse. Com. No. 880).
- **2019-04-30** House agrees to Senate amendment(s).
- **2019-04-30** Passed Final Reading as amended in SD 1 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and none excused (0).
- **2019-05-02** Received notice of House agreement and passage on Final Reading (Hse. Com. No. 882).
- **2019-05-01** Transmitted to Governor.
- **2019-06-25** Act 118, on 06/21/2019 (Gov. Msg. No. 1220). `executive-signature`
- **2019-06-25** Act 118, 06/21/2019 (Gov. Msg. No. 1220). `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c7fb4bb0-e0ca-4587-9805-2849353e2fc7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Hawaii legislature records).