---
type: "Bill"
title: "RELATING TO NATURAL RESOURCES."
description: "Establishes the offense of criminal destruction of a tree on state or county property, punishable as a misdemeanor. (CD1)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/hi"
legislature: "Hawaii Legislature"
session: "2026"
identifier: "SB 2983"
citation: "Hawaii SB 2983 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Destruction of Trees", "Misdemeanor", "State or County Property"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["C.", "CHANG", "LEE"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 42
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2026-01-23"
last_action: "2026-06-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/50fa61a7-6d79-423e-aa3b-8467aeeb7555"
source_url: "https://capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=2983&year=2026"
source_hash: "a9c74423cdfa908a3e4c5ee6161f13d7d59c664b8e1689866a66dc7fa57654d3"
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 2983 (2026) — RELATING TO NATURAL RESOURCES.

Establishes the offense of criminal destruction of a tree on state or county property, punishable as a misdemeanor. (CD1)

## Version chain

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

1. **SB2983** (committee substitute) — [source](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2983_.HTM)
2. **SB2983_CD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2983_CD1_.HTM)
3. **SB2983_HD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2983_HD1_.HTM)
4. **SB2983_SD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://data.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2026/bills/SB2983_SD1_.HTM)

## Votes

- Report Adopted; Passed Third Reading. — **23–2** (pass) · upper
- The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **6–1** (pass) · lower
- The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- The Conference Committee recommends that the measure be Passed, with Amendments. — **2–0** (pass) · lower
- The committee(s) on GVO recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- Passed Final Reading, as amended (CD 1). — **22–3** (pass) · upper
- The Conference committee recommends that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **2–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- C. — primary (person)
- CHANG — primary (person)
- LEE — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2026-06-24** Act 128, on 06/24/2026 (Gov. Msg. No. 1229). `became-law`
- **2026-06-24** Act 128, 06/24/2026 (Gov. Msg. No. 1229). `became-law`
- **2026-05-08** 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** Received notice of Final Reading (Sen. Com. No. 816). `receipt`
- **2026-05-06** Passed Final Reading as amended in CD 1 with none voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Alcos, Cochran, Garcia, Gedeon, Kong, Matsumoto voting no (6) and none excused (0). `passage`
- **2026-05-06** Passed Final Reading, as amended (CD 1). Ayes, 22; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 3 (Senator(s) Awa, DeCorte, Fevella). Excused, 0 (none). `passage`
- **2026-04-29** Forty-eight (48) hours notice Wednesday, 05-06-26.
- **2026-04-29** Reported from Conference Committee (Conf Com. Rep. No. 57-26) as amended in (CD 1).
- **2026-04-29** 48 Hrs. Notice (as amended CD 1) 05-06-26.
- **2026-04-29** Reported from Conference Committee as amended CD 1 (Conf. Com. Rep. No. 57-26).
- **2026-04-29** The Conference Committee recommends that the measure be Passed, with Amendments. The votes were as follows: 2 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Garcia.
- **2026-04-29** The Conference committee recommends that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes of the Senate Conference Managers were as follows: 2 Aye(s): Senator(s) McKelvey, Rhoads; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) DeCorte. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-04-28** Conference committee meeting scheduled for 04-29-26 10:16AM; Conference Room 016.
- **2026-04-28** Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 840). `receipt`
- **2026-04-27** House Conferees Appointed: Tarnas Chair; Poepoe, Garcia.
- **2026-04-27** Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 761). `receipt`
- **2026-04-24** Senate Conferees Appointed: McKelvey Chair; Rhoads Co-Chair; DeCorte.
- **2026-04-16** Received notice of disagreement (Sen. Com. No. 710). `receipt`
- **2026-04-16** Senate disagrees with House amendments. `amendment-failure`
- **2026-04-16** Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 723). `introduction, receipt`
- **2026-04-14** Passed Third Reading with Representative(s) Cochran, Gedeon voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Alcos, Garcia, Kong, Matsumoto, Pierick voting no (5) and Representative(s) Quinlan excused (1). Transmitted to Senate. `passage`
- **2026-04-09** Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1; placed on the calendar for Third Reading with Representative(s) Gedeon voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Alcos, Garcia, Pierick voting no (3) and Representative(s) Cochran excused (1).
- **2026-04-09** Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1983-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and placement on the calendar for Third Reading.
- **2026-03-18** The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 6 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Belatti, Kahaloa, Takayama, Shimizu; Ayes with reservations: none; 1 Noes: Representative(s) Garcia; and 3 Excused: Representative(s) Hashem, Sayama, Cochran. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-03-16** Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Wednesday, 03-18-26 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. 334) in amended form (SD 1). `introduction, receipt`
- **2026-03-10** Report Adopted; Passed Third Reading. Ayes, 23; Aye(s) with reservations: none. Noes, 2 (Senator(s) Awa, DeCorte). Excused, 0 (none). Transmitted to House. `passage`
- **2026-03-06** One Day Notice 03-10-26.
- **2026-03-06** Reported from JDC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3044) with recommendation of passage on Third Reading.
- **2026-03-04** The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes in JDC were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Rhoads, Gabbard, Chang, San Buenaventura; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 1 No(es): Senator(s) Awa; and 0 Excused: none. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-24** The committee(s) on JDC will hold a public decision making on 03-04-26 9:40AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference.
- **2026-02-19** Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to JDC. `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2026-02-19** Reported from GVO (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2417) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to JDC.
- **2026-02-10** 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) McKelvey, Gabbard, Hashimoto, Moriwaki; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 1 No(es): Senator(s) Awa; and 0 Excused: none. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2026-02-05** The committee(s) on GVO deferred the measure until 02-10-26 3:00PM; Conference Room 225 & Videoconference. `deferral`
- **2026-02-02** The committee(s) on GVO has scheduled a public hearing on 02-05-26 3:01PM; CR 225 & Videoconference.
- **2026-01-30** Referred to GVO, JDC. `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-26** Passed First Reading. `reading-1`
- **2026-01-23** Introduced. `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/50fa61a7-6d79-423e-aa3b-8467aeeb7555`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Hawaii legislature records).