republic-os/legislation/us/states/hi/2024/hb-1597.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	RELATING TO OPEN MEETINGS.	Clarifies that members of the public may sue a board or alleged board after receiving an adverse Office of Information Practices decision, and that the decision will be reviewed de novo. Establishes a two-year statute of limitations to bring the lawsuit and reaffirms a complainant's right to seek review by the Office of Information Practices first. Recognizes that only a member of the public may recover attorney's fees and costs if that person prevails in an open meetings lawsuit. Requires that persons suing for open meetings law violations notify the Office of Information Practices about the lawsuit so that it may decide whether to intervene. Requires open meetings lawsuits that seek to void a board's final action to be prioritized by the courts. (SD1)	us/states/hi	Hawaii Legislature	2024	HB 1597	Hawaii HB 1597 (2024)	bill	Enforcement OIP Open Meetings Law	enacted	AMATO COCHRAN GANADEN NAKASHIMA NISHIMOTO TAKAYAMA TARNAS	3	31	3	2024-01-16	2024-07-03	openstates	ocd-bill/e8c35696-dc35-47d9-9c06-b6e7d2d311b1	https://capitol.hawaii.gov/session/archives/measure_indiv_Archives.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1597&year=2024	1fef0d2e8957259926079908300dacda0e14e59751169ddb9637796511d233c7	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-hi

Hawaii HB 1597 (2024) — RELATING TO OPEN MEETINGS.

Clarifies that members of the public may sue a board or alleged board after receiving an adverse Office of Information Practices decision, and that the decision will be reviewed de novo. Establishes a two-year statute of limitations to bring the lawsuit and reaffirms a complainant's right to seek review by the Office of Information Practices first. Recognizes that only a member of the public may recover attorney's fees and costs if that person prevails in an open meetings lawsuit. Requires that persons suing for open meetings law violations notify the Office of Information Practices about the lawsuit so that it may decide whether to intervene. Requires open meetings lawsuits that seek to void a board's final action to be prioritized by the courts. (SD1)

Version chain

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

1. HB1597 (committee substitute) — source
2. HB1597_HD1 (committee substitute) — source
3. HB1597_SD1 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• Reconsider: The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — 4–0 (pass) · upper
• The committee(s) on GVO recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — 4–0 (pass) · upper
• Reconsider: The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — 8–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• AMATO — primary (person)
• COCHRAN — primary (person)
• GANADEN — primary (person)
• NAKASHIMA — primary (person)
• NISHIMOTO — primary (person)
• TAKAYAMA — primary (person)
• TARNAS — primary (person)
• Kobayashi — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

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

• 2024-07-03 Act 160, 07/02/2024 (Gov. Msg. No. 1261). became-law
• 2024-07-03 Act 160, on 07/02/2024 (Gov. Msg. No. 1261). became-law
• 2024-04-17 Transmitted to Governor.
• 2024-04-18 Received notice of House agreement and passage on Final Reading (Hse. Com. No. 764). receipt
• 2024-04-17 Passed Final Reading as amended in SD 1 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Garcia, Kila, Nakashima excused (3). passage
• 2024-04-17 House agrees to Senate amendment(s).
• 2024-04-17 Received notice of House reconsideration of action in disagreeing to the amendments proposed by the Senate (Hse. Com. No. 758). receipt
• 2024-04-16 Reconsideration of action taken on 04-11-24.
• 2024-04-12 Received notice of disagreement (Hse. Com. No. 731). receipt
• 2024-04-11 House disagrees with Senate amendment (s). amendment-failure
• 2024-04-09 Returned from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 501) in amended form (SD 1).
• 2024-04-09 Report adopted; Passed Third Reading. Ayes, 24; Aye(s) with reservations: none . Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 1 (Senator(s) Ihara). Transmitted to House. passage
• 2024-04-05 One Day Notice 04-09-24.
• 2024-04-05 Reported from JDC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3695) with recommendation of passage on Third Reading.
• 2024-04-02 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, Elefante, San Buenaventura; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Awa. committee-passage-favorable
• 2024-03-27 The committee(s) on JDC will hold a public decision making on 04-02-24 10:05AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference.
• 2024-03-22 Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to JDC. reading-2, referral-committee
• 2024-03-22 Reported from GVO (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3275) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to JDC.
• 2024-03-19 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) Gabbard, San Buenaventura, Wakai, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) McKelvey. committee-passage-favorable
• 2024-03-15 The committee(s) on GVO has scheduled a public hearing on 03-19-24 3:00PM; Conference Room 225 & Videoconference.
• 2024-03-07 Referred to GVO, JDC. referral-committee
• 2024-03-07 Passed First Reading. reading-1
• 2024-03-07 Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 189). introduction, receipt
• 2024-03-05 Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cochran, Martinez, Woodson excused (3). Transmitted to Senate. passage
• 2024-02-29 Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1; placed on the calendar for Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Aiu, Cochran, Garrett, Holt, Kahaloa, Lowen, Nishimoto, Quinlan, Todd excused (9).
• 2024-02-29 Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 671-24) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and placement on the calendar for Third Reading.
• 2024-02-23 The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 8 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Takayama, Evslin, Ganaden, Ichiyama, Ilagan, Kong, Miyake; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Holt, Souza. committee-passage-favorable
• 2024-02-21 Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Friday, 02-23-24 2:00PM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
• 2024-01-24 Referred to JHA, referral sheet 1 referral-committee
• 2024-01-17 Introduced and Pass First Reading. introduction, reading-1
• 2024-01-16 Prefiled.

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/e8c35696-dc35-47d9-9c06-b6e7d2d311b1. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Hawaii legislature records).