---
type: "Bill"
title: "RELATING TO THE CHIEF ELECTION OFFICER."
description: "Establishes an order of succession for an Interim Chief Election Officer in the event of a vacancy in the position of Chief Election Officer until the Elections Commission appoints a new Chief Election Officer. (CD1)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/hi"
legislature: "Hawaii Legislature"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 2143"
citation: "Hawaii SB 2143 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Chief Election Officer", "Elections Commission", "Order of Succession", "Vacancy"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["CHANG", "FEVELLA", "HASHIMOTO", "RHOADS", "RICHARDS"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 40
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-14"
last_action: "2026-05-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/68b94538-0259-4b41-847c-9666c0a74e89"
source_url: "https://capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=2143&year=2026"
source_hash: "78a9d2dc232b88a468be6ad1ad85eb09094b1e864397a9bd2c5da1b717f4bfb0"
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 SB 2143 (2026) — RELATING TO THE CHIEF ELECTION OFFICER.

Establishes an order of succession for an Interim Chief Election Officer in the event of a vacancy in the position of Chief Election Officer until the Elections Commission appoints a new Chief Election Officer. (CD1)

## Version chain

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

1. **SB2143** (committee substitute) — [source](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2143_.HTM)
2. **SB2143_CD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2143_CD1_.HTM)
3. **SB2143_HD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2143_HD1_.HTM)
4. **SB2143_SD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2143_SD1_.HTM)

## Votes

- The Conference committee recommends that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **3–0** (pass) · upper
- Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). — **24–1** (pass) · upper
- Passed Final Reading, as amended (CD 1). — **22–2** (pass) · upper
- The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **7–3** (pass) · lower
- The Conference Committee recommends that the measure be Passed, with Amendments. — **3–1** (pass) · lower
- The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **3–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- CHANG — primary (person)
- FEVELLA — primary (person)
- HASHIMOTO — primary (person)
- RHOADS — primary (person)
- RICHARDS — primary (person)
- San Buenaventura — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-05-26** Act 025, on 05/22/2026 (Gov. Msg. No. 1125). `became-law`
- **2026-05-26** Act 025, 05/22/2026 (Gov. Msg. No. 1125). `became-law`
- **2026-05-07** Enrolled to Governor. `executive-receipt`
- **2026-05-08** Received notice of passage on Final Reading in House (Hse. Com. No. 888). `receipt`
- **2026-05-06** Passed Final Reading as amended in CD 1 with Representative(s) Reyes Oda, Souza voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Alcos, Cochran, Garcia, Gedeon, Hartsfield, Kila, Matsumoto, Muraoka, Shimizu voting no (9) and none excused (0). `passage`
- **2026-05-05** Received notice of Final Reading (Sen. Com. No. 814). `receipt`
- **2026-05-01** Passed Final Reading, as amended (CD 1). Ayes, 22; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 2 (Senator(s) Awa, Fevella). Excused, 1 (Senator(s) Fukunaga). `passage`
- **2026-05-01** Deferred one day 05-06-26. `deferral`
- **2026-04-29** Forty-eight (48) hours notice Friday, 05-01-26.
- **2026-04-29** Reported from Conference Committee (Conf Com. Rep. No. 26-26) as amended in (CD 1).
- **2026-04-29** 48 Hrs. Notice (as amended CD 1) 05-01-26.
- **2026-04-29** Reported from Conference Committee as amended CD 1 (Conf. Com. Rep. No. 26-26).
- **2026-04-27** The Conference Committee recommends that the measure be Passed, with Amendments. The votes were as follows: 3 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Belatti, Poepoe; Ayes with reservations: none; 1 Noes: Representative(s) Garcia; and 0 Excused: none.
- **2026-04-27** The Conference committee recommends that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes of the Senate Conference Managers were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) Rhoads, Chang, Fevella; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Gabbard. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-24** Conference committee meeting scheduled for 04-27-26 2:20PM; Conference Room 325.
- **2026-04-22** Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 723). `receipt`
- **2026-04-22** Senate Conferees Appointed: Rhoads Chair; Chang, Gabbard, Fevella.
- **2026-04-20** Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 787). `receipt`
- **2026-04-20** House Conferees Appointed: Tarnas Chair; Belatti, Poepoe, Garcia.
- **2026-04-10** Received notice of disagreement (Sen. Com. No. 564). `receipt`
- **2026-04-07** Senate disagrees with House amendments. `amendment-failure`
- **2026-04-07** Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 473). `introduction, receipt`
- **2026-04-06** Passed Third Reading with Representative(s) Kila, Reyes Oda, Souza voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Alcos, Garcia, Gedeon, Matsumoto, Muraoka, Shimizu voting no (6) and Representative(s) Cochran, Olds, Quinlan excused (3). Transmitted to Senate. `passage`
- **2026-04-01** Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1; placed on the calendar for Third Reading with Representative(s) Matsumoto, Reyes Oda, Souza voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Alcos, Cochran, Garcia, Gedeon, Muraoka, Shimizu voting no (6) and none excused (0).
- **2026-04-01** Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1590-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and placement on the calendar for Third Reading.
- **2026-03-17** The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 7 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Belatti, Hashem, Kahaloa, Sayama, Takayama; Ayes with reservations: none; 3 Noes: Representative(s) Cochran, Garcia, Shimizu; and Excused: none. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-12** Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Tuesday, 03-17-26 2:00PM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
- **2026-03-12** Referred to JHA, referral sheet 17 `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-12** Pass First Reading `reading-1`
- **2026-03-10** Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 178) in amended form (SD 1). `introduction, receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). Ayes, 24; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 1 (Senator(s) Awa). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House. `passage`
- **2026-03-05** 48 Hrs. Notice 03-10-26.
- **2026-03-05** Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1). `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2026-03-05** Reported from JDC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2806) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and placement on the calendar for Third Reading.
- **2026-02-18** The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in JDC were as follows: 3 Aye(s): Senator(s) Rhoads, Gabbard, Chang; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 1 No(es): Senator(s) Awa; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) San Buenaventura. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-11** The committee(s) on JDC has scheduled a public hearing on 02-18-26 9:05AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference.
- **2026-02-04** Re-Referred to JDC. `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-22** Referred to GVO, JDC. `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-21** Introduced and passed First Reading. `introduction`
- **2026-01-14** Pending Introduction.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/68b94538-0259-4b41-847c-9666c0a74e89`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Hawaii legislature records).