A state bill that would legalize adult personal use of marijuana — as well as regulate recreational cannabis, medical cannabis and hemp within a single office — will get its first committee hearing this week.
A joint session of the committees on the Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs and Agriculture will hear House Bill 1246 at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The measure, if enacted, would establish the Hawaii Cannabis and Hemp Office within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to regulate all aspects of the cannabis plant, as well as legalize adult personal use of marijuana and tax its sale on Jan. 1, 2026.
“The bill is one we’ve been working on,” said Rep. David Tarnas (D-Kohala), the Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs chairman and the bill’s author. “We took last year’s bill and continued to improve upon it over the interim. We tried to include best practices from other states, because a lot of states have legalized adult use of cannabis, and … this bill is the culmination of all that work.
“We’ve been in very close consultation with the office of the attorney general … and have been working to craft a bill that would protect public safety and public health, while setting up a regulatory framework that we think would be reasonable and support a viable industry.”
Tarnas’ legislation has a dozen co-sponsors, all Democrats, including Big Island Reps. Kirsten Kahaloa, Jeanne Kapela, Matthias Kusch, Nicole Lowen and Chris Todd.
The 2024 bill referred to by Tarnas was Senate Bill 3335, which was introduced by Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, an Oahu Democrat, with Big Island Democratic Sens. Dru Kanuha and Joy San Buenaventura among those signing on as co-sponsors.
That measure — which drew reams of written testimony in opposition from Hawaii’s law enforcers — passed the Senate and squeaked through a second House floor vote 28-23. It was at its final committee when Rep. Kyle Yamashita, an upcountry Maui Democrat and the House Finance chairman, decided to not hear the bill, killing it for the session.
The House Finance Committee, which Yamashita still chairs, would be the last of three committee hearings needed for the new bill to be passed over to the Senate.
“He has said if he does not have the votes on his committee, he doesn’t want to hear the bill because he’s too busy,” Tarnas said. “I think that’s a reasonable approach.”
A companion measure to Tarnas’ legislation, SB 1613, introduced by San Buenaventura with Keohokalole as a co-sponsor, has been referred to a joint session of the Health and Human Services and Judiciary committees, but no hearing has been scheduled.
Both Tarnas and Todd, who serves on the Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs committee, believe the floor votes on HB 1246 will be close.
“This time around, I think the situation is similar where the vote is very close within the body,” said Todd. “If it comes out of committee, it’ll hit the floor and we’ll get a better read on where the support is in the body. But, anecdotally, it’s similar as it’s going to be a narrow vote one way or another.”
“So, my goal is to have the bill be such a strong bill that addresses the concerns of those who have opposed it in the past … and convince those who are on the fence that this is a good bill to support,” Tarnas added.
Todd said he believes legalization of adult personal use “would be a significant revenue generator for the state.”
“The ranges that we’ve seen are, on the low end, maybe $30 million to $40 million per year in net revenue for the state — just on the taxation side, taxation and fees, not counting the economic activity in general. There are other projections that are north of $100 million,” he said.
“It all comes down to a few factors. One is … what kind of tax rate are we placing? If we tax too little, it doesn’t generate enough revenue,” Todd continued. “If we tax too much, then these businesses will not be competitive with the black market. There is a sweet spot, and Chair Tarnas is working very hard and has his staff working very hard. It’s a yearlong process, and they’ve done what they can to learn from every state’s successes and failures. The bill that’s on the table is based on that knowledge that’s accrued.”
No written testimony had been submitted regarding the measure as of Friday afternoon, but 23 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized adult personal use.
“The (Centers or Disease Control and Prevention) has a done a very, very rigorous study across every state that’s legalized,” Todd said. “And a lot of the negative outcomes that get thrown around are just not supported by the data. There’s a lot of concern around youth usage, impaired driving — or the classic argument about cannabis being a kind of gateway drug. The data across every state that’s legalized … more than 20 states now, shows that’s not supported by data.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
