---
type: "Bill"
title: "RELATING TO SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS."
description: "Specifies that the family court has jurisdiction in proceedings concerning the custody or guardianship of an immigrant child pursuant to a motion for Special Immigrant Juvenile factual findings requesting a determination that the child was abused, neglected, or abandoned before the age of 18. (SD1)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/hi"
legislature: "Hawaii Legislature"
session: "2020 Regular Session"
identifier: "HB 1978"
citation: "Hawaii HB 1978 (2020 Regular Session)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Special Immigrant Juvenile Status", "Family Court Jurisdiction"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["AQUINO", "BELATTI", "C. LEE", "CABANILLA ARAKAWA", "CACHOLA", "CULLEN", "HASHIMOTO", "HOLT", "Har", "ICHIYAMA", "JOHANSON", "MIZUNO", "NAKASHIMA", "QUINLAN", "SAY", "San Buenaventura", "TOKIOKA", "WOODSON", "YAMANE"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 37
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2020-01-17"
last_action: "2020-09-15"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/606a4313-f76e-4c86-903f-3c08844576a8"
source_url: "http://capitol.hawaii.gov/Archives/measure_indiv_Archives8-12.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1978&year=2020"
source_hash: "085098eb067c2af27f7cf1fad8baa9f1cec8593f64efbaf7474c671a31dcbee4"
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 1978 (2020 Regular Session) — RELATING TO SPECIAL IMMIGRANT JUVENILE STATUS.

Specifies that the family court has jurisdiction in proceedings concerning the custody or guardianship of an immigrant child pursuant to a motion for Special Immigrant Juvenile factual findings requesting a determination that the child was abused, neglected, or abandoned before the age of 18. (SD1)

## Version chain

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

1. **HB1978** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2020/bills/HB1978_.HTM)
2. **HB1978_HD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2020/bills/HB1978_HD1_.HTM)
3. **HB1978_SD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2020/bills/HB1978_SD1_.HTM)

## Votes

- The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- The committees on HSH recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- The committee(s) on HMS recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- The committees on JUD recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — **9–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- AQUINO — primary (person)
- BELATTI — primary (person)
- C. LEE — primary (person)
- CABANILLA ARAKAWA — primary (person)
- CACHOLA — primary (person)
- CULLEN — primary (person)
- HASHIMOTO — primary (person)
- HOLT — primary (person)
- Har — primary (person)
- ICHIYAMA — primary (person)
- JOHANSON — primary (person)
- MIZUNO — primary (person)
- NAKASHIMA — primary (person)
- QUINLAN — primary (person)
- SAY — primary (person)
- San Buenaventura — primary (person)
- TOKIOKA — primary (person)
- WOODSON — primary (person)
- YAMANE — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2020-01-17** Pending introduction.
- **2020-01-21** Introduced and Pass First Reading. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2020-01-23** Referred to HSH, JUD, FIN, referral sheet 4 `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-24** Bill scheduled to be heard by HSH on Wednesday, 01-29-20 8:30AM in House conference room 329.
- **2020-01-29** The committees on HSH recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 7 Ayes: Representative(s) San Buenaventura, Nakamura, Belatti, B. Kobayashi, Mizuno, Tokioka, Ward; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Say. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-01-31** Reported from HSH (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 14-20) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to JUD.
- **2020-01-31** Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on JUD with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Ichiyama, Matsumoto, Say excused (3). `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2020-02-11** Re-referred to HSH, JUD, referral sheet 27 `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-21** Bill scheduled to be heard by JUD on Tuesday, 02-25-20 2:00PM in House conference room 325.
- **2020-02-25** The committee(s) on JUD recommend(s) that the measure be deferred until 02-26-20 at 2:00pm.
- **2020-02-25** Bill scheduled for decision making on Wednesday, 02-26-20 2:00PM in conference room 325.
- **2020-02-26** 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, Lowen, Nakashima, Perruso, Say, Takayama, Thielen; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 3 Excused: Representative(s) Creagan, McKelvey, Yamane. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-02-28** Reported from JUD (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 918-20), recommending passage on Third Reading.
- **2020-02-28** Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cabanilla Arakawa, DeCoite, Holt, Thielen excused (4). Transmitted to Senate. `passage`
- **2020-03-03** Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 156). `introduction`
- **2020-03-03** Passed First Reading. `reading-1`
- **2020-03-03** Referred to HMS, JDC. `referral-committee`
- **2020-03-03** The committee(s) on HMS has scheduled a public hearing on 03-06-20 2:45PM in conference room 016.
- **2020-03-06** The committee(s) on HMS deferred the measure until 03-16-20 3:00PM in conference room 016.
- **2020-03-16** The hearing on this measure has been cancelled until further notice.
- **2020-06-22** The committee(s) on HMS will hold a public decision making on 06-24-20 3:00PM in conference room 016.
- **2020-06-24** The committee(s) on HMS recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in HMS were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Ruderman, K. Rhoads, Ihara, Riviere, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-06-26** Reported from HMS (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3675) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading and referral to JDC.
- **2020-06-26** Report adopted; Passed Second Reading and referred to JDC.
- **2020-06-26** The committee(s) on JDC has scheduled a public hearing on 06-30-20 9:46AM in conference room 016.
- **2020-06-30** The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in JDC were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) K. Rhoads, J.Keohokalole, Gabbard, Kim, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2020-07-02** Reported from JDC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3751) with recommendation of passage on Third Reading, as amended (SD 1).
- **2020-07-02** 48 Hrs. Notice 07-06-20.
- **2020-07-06** Report adopted; Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). Ayes, 24; Aye(s) with reservations: none . Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House. `passage`
- **2020-07-06** Returned from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 583) in amended form (SD 1).
- **2020-07-08** Received notice of House intent to agree to the amendments proposed by the Senate (Hse. Com. No. 421).
- **2020-07-10** House agrees to Senate amendment(s).
- **2020-07-10** Passed Final Reading as amended in SD 1 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Ohno excused (1).
- **2020-07-10** Received notice of House agreement and passage on Final Reading (Hse. Com. No. 425).
- **2020-07-10** Transmitted to Governor.
- **2020-09-15** Act 036, 09/15/2020 (Gov. Msg. No. 1141). `executive-signature`
- **2020-09-15** Act 036, on 09/15/2020 (Gov. Msg. No. 1141). `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/606a4313-f76e-4c86-903f-3c08844576a8`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Hawaii legislature records).