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2021 Hawaii legislative session

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2021 Hawaii legislative session
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General information
Session start:    January 20, 2021

Session end:    April 29, 2021

Leadership
Senate President
Ronald Kouchi (D)

House Speaker
Scott Saiki (D)
Majority Leader
Senate: J. Kalani English (D)
House: Della Au Belatti (D)
Minority Leader
Senate: Kurt Fevella (R)
House: Val Aquino Okimoto (R)

Elections
Next Election:    November 8, 2022

Last Election:    November 3, 2020

Previous legislative sessions
2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2021 legislative sessions


In 2021, the Hawaii State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 20, 2021, and adjourn on April 29, 2021.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2020 elections. Democrats won a 24-1 majority in the Senate and a 47-4 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Democratic state government trifecta. At the start of the 2021 session, Hawaii was one of six state legislatures where Democrats had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

Redistricting is the process by which states draw new Congressional and state legislative districts following the U.S. Census. Officials sent data from the 2020 U.S. Census to states in early 2021 to begin the process of redistricting. As of the 2020 census, Hawaii was one of four states where an independent commission was responsible for redistricting.

At the beginning of the 2021 legislative session:
  • Democrats held a majority in the Hawaii state House and state Senate.
  • Hawaii was one of 15 Democratic state government trifectas.
  • Hawaii's governor was Democrat David Ige.

    • Leadership in 2021

    Hawaii State Senate

    Hawaii House of Representatives

    Partisan control in 2021

    See also: State government trifectas

    Hawaii was one of 15 Democratic state government trifectas at the start of 2021 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

    Hawaii was also one of six state legislatures where Democrats had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

    The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Hawaii State Legislature in the 2021 legislative session.

    Hawaii State Senate

    Party As of January 2021
         Democratic Party 24
         Republican Party 1
    Total 25

    Hawaii House of Representatives

    Party As of January 2021
         Democratic Party 47
         Republican Party 4
    Total 51

    Regular session

    The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2021 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2021. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Redistricting

    See also: Redistricting in Hawaii after the 2020 census

    Redistricting is the process of enacting new district boundaries for elected offices, particularly for offices in the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures.

    To learn more about the redistricting process in Hawaii after the 2020 census, click here.

    Standing legislative committees

    See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Hawaii state government


    A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

    At the beginning of the 2021 legislative session, there were 34 standing committees in Hawaii's state government, including 14 state Senate committees, and 20 state House committees.

    Senate committees

    House committees

    Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

    In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

    The methods by which the Hawaii Constitution can be amended:

    See also: Article XVII of the Hawaii Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Hawaii

    The Hawaii Constitution provides two mechanisms for amending the state's constitution— a legislative process and a state constitutional convention. Hawaii requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.

    Legislature

    See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

    A two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required during one legislative session or a simple majority vote in two successive legislative sessions for the Hawaii State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 35 votes in the Hawaii House of Representatives and 17 votes in the Hawaii State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

    Convention

    See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

    According to Section 2 of Article XVII of the Hawaii Constitution, a question about whether to hold a state constitutional convention is to automatically appear on the state's ballot after a period of nine years. Hawaii is one of 14 states that provides for an automatic constitutional convention question.

    The table below shows the last and next constitutional convention question election years:

    State Interval Last question on the ballot Next question on the ballot
    Hawaii 10 years 2018 2028


    Historical partisan control

    The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Hawaii.

    Hawaii Party Control: 1992-2025
    Twenty-six years of Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
    Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

    Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
    Governor D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
    Senate D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
    House D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

    Historical Senate control

    From 1992 to 2020, the Hawaii State Senate was controlled by the Democratic Party, as it has been in most years since Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959. The table below shows the partisan history of the Hawaii State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2020. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Hawaii State Senate election results: 1992-2020

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20
    Democrats 22 23 23 23 22 20 20 20 23 24 24 24 25 24 24
    Republicans 3 2 2 2 3 5 5 5 2 1 1 1 0 1 1

    Since Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959 through 2020, Democrats controlled the state Senate following most elections. From at least 1978 to 2020, Republicans never held more than 10 seats in the chamber. From 1982 to 2020, they never held more than five seats. From 1992 to the early 2000s, Democrats usually held 23 or 22 of the chamber's seats. Starting in 2002, Republicans expanded their caucus to five seats and held these through the 2006 elections.

    In 2008, Republicans lost three seats and the Democrats ended up with a 23-member caucus. This advantage persisted despite national trends. In 2010, a year when Republicans did well nationally, Democrats won 24 seats. This left Republicans with just one member through the 2014 elections. In 2016, the last Republican lost his seat, giving Democrats control of all 25 seats. It was the only state legislative chamber in the country to be completely controlled by one party following the 2016 elections. Republicans regained one seat in 2018 and maintained it in 2020, leaving the chamber controlled by a 24-1 Democratic majority.

    Historical House control

    From 1992 to 2020, the Hawaii House of Representatives was controlled by the Democratic Party, as it has been since Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959. The table below shows the partisan history of the Hawaii House of Representatives following every general election from 1992 to 2020. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

    Hawaii House of Representatives election results: 1992-2020

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20
    Democrats 47 44 39 39 32 36 41 43 45 43 44 43 45 46 47
    Republicans 4 7 12 12 19 15 10 8 6 8 7 8 6 5 4

    Since Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959 through 2020, Democrats controlled the state House following every election. From at least 1958 to 2020, Republicans never held more than 20 seats in the chamber.

    The elections in the late 1980s and 1990s went strongly in favor of Democrats, leaving Republicans with just four seats following the 1992 elections. They made some gains in the elections that followed, working their way to 19 seats by 2000. This was the highest number of seats they had held since the chamber first started holding elections in 1958. However, Republicans lost seats in the two elections that followed, dropping them to 10 seats. The next several cycles brought Republicans to eight seats after the 2006 elections.

    The Democratic majority was stable in the elections from 2010 to 2014, despite a national trend toward Republicans during that time. Republicans held no more than eight seats in the state House during that period. Following the 2016 elections, Democrats held a 45-6 majority. Their numbers were bolstered when Beth Fukumoto changed her party registration from Republican to Democratic in 2017, giving them 46 seats in the chamber—the number they held through 2018. In 2020, Democrats increased their majority to 47-4.

    Noteworthy events

    House minority leader election

    On February 17, 2021, Val Aquino Okimoto was elected as minority leader of the Hawaii House of Representatives.[1] Prior to her election, the four-member Republican caucus had been split 2-2 over who should be the minority leader. Gene Ward, who served as minority leader in the previous session, received support from Bob McDermott and opposition from Val Aquino Okimoto and Lauren Cheape Matsumoto.[2] In an op-ed in the Honolulu Civil Beat, Okimoto said, "The party was fighting against itself and would not have survived. The problem is not with the majority. The problem was within the Hawaii GOP, as there was no clear message or leadership to move us forward in the direction we needed to go."[1]

    See also

    Elections Hawaii State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    Hawaii State Flag-Close Up.jpg
    State Houses-Tile image.png
    State Courts-Tile image.png

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hawaii Civil Beat, "It’s A New Day For The Hawaii GOP," February 18, 2021
    2. ↑ Honolulu Civil Beat, "Chad Blair: Who’s Leading The Hawaii House GOP? Nobody Knows," February 1, 2021
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