Hawaii
Hawaii lawmakers wrap up session featuring tax cuts and help for Maui
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii lawmakers on Friday wrapped up a legislative session heavily focused on addressing Maui’s needs after last year’s deadly Lahaina wildfire. They also took on Hawaii’s housing shortage, tax cuts and measures to support distinctive Hawaii agricultural products like coffee and macadamia nuts. In a more lighthearted move, they adopted the “shaka” as the official state gesture.
Here is a look at some of the major legislation passed during the 60-day session that began on Jan. 17:
Money for Maui and wildfire prevention
Lawmakers appropriated $1 billion to cover various costs stemming from the Lahaina disaster, including $500 million for emergency housing for displaced residents and $124 million in rental assistance for those ineligible for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
A recognition of how global warming has raised wildfire risks statewide prompted legislators to allocate funds for more firefighting equipment, a state fire marshal and forest restoration.
Housing and vacation rentals
Lawmakers tackled Hawaii’s acute housing shortage with bills to reform zoning and boost vacation rental regulations.
The zoning measure requires the counties to allow two additional dwellings on each residentially zoned lot with the aim of promoting higher density development.
House Speaker Scott Saiki, a Democrat, told reporters on Wednesday this differed from recent past attempts to address the state’s housing shortage. Those primarily involved subsidies for affordable housing construction.
“We’re seeing in other states, and even in other countries, that governments are looking at zoning as one of the barriers to housing development,” Saiki said. “And it was time for Hawaii to take a look at that as well.”
The Aug. 8 wildfire put a spotlight on vacation rentals by exposing the large share of Maui dwellings being rented to tourists on a short-term basis. This pushed lawmakers to pass a bill giving counties the authority to phase out vacation rentals and make them available for residents. Gov. Josh Green signed the measure into law on Friday.
Maui’s mayor acted on this bill immediately by announcing county legislation that would phase out vacation rentals operating in areas zoned for apartments. The bill would affect 2,200 West Maui units in and around Lahaina and nearly 5,000 more elsewhere in the county.
Boost for farmers
Lawmakers passed measures creating standards for coffee and macadamia nuts, two of Hawaii’s most high-value crops.
The coffee bill requires Hawaii-grown and processed coffee to contain no less than 51% Hawaii-origin coffee beginning in July 2027. The legislation said existing law allows coffee blends identified as being from the Kona, Kau and Kauai coffee growing regions to contain only small amounts of beans from these places. This deceives consumers and harms coffee growers, it said.
On macadamia nuts, lawmakers passed legislation that would force macadamia-nut processors of iconic brands like Mauna Loa to disclose whether their products contain kernels grown outside Hawaii. Currently, some well-known Hawaii macadamia nut processers sell imported nuts in island-themed packaging without indicating where the nuts are from.
Tax cut
Lawmakers approved tax cuts amounting to $5 billion over the next six years, said Rep. Kyle Yamashita, the chairperson of the House Finance Committee and a Democrat. The cuts are in the form of a higher earned income tax credit, increases to the standard tax deduction and adjustments to income tax brackets.
Lawmakers also removed the general excise tax on medical bills for patients with Medicaid, Medicare and Tricare health insurance.
Yamashita said the changes are only the first step in needed tax reform and he aims to work on the issue further.
“Because at the end of the day, our biggest problem in our state is high cost of living. Our tax structure is at the root of that,” he told reporters.
Rep. Lauren Matsumoto, the House minority leader, said her Republican caucus has long pushed for the tax measures.
“Our best bills that we passed this year is when we did them bipartisanly, when we worked collaboratively and had input from everybody,” she said.
State gesture
Lawmakers moved to make the “shaka” the state gesture and recognize Hawaii as its birthplace. The hand symbol is sometimes known outside the islands as the “hang loose” sign associated with surf culture. People in Hawaii display the shaka to say hi and bye as well as thanks and aloha.
The demolition of Aloha Stadium on Oahu took a big step forward Thursday with the first section of seating pulled down from the steel structure.
Half of the elevated deck-level seating on the stadium’s makai side was severed and toppled backward as part of demolition work that began in February.
The other half of the upper makai-side seating is slated to come down Tuesday, followed by similar sections on the mauka side and both end zones, though the concrete foundations for lower-level end-zone seating are being preserved for a new, smaller stadium to rise on the same site.
A private partnership, Aloha Halawa District Partners, led by local developer Stanford Carr, is replacing the 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium, which opened in 1975 and was shuttered in 2020, with a new stadium featuring up to 31,000 seats.
AHDP is using $350 million of state funding toward the cost of the new stadium, which could be $475 million or more, and will operate and maintain the facility on state land for 30 years with a land lease.
The development team also is to redevelop much of the 98-acre stadium property dominated by parking lots with a new mixed-use community that includes at least 4,100 residences, two hotels, an office tower, retail, entertainment attractions and open spaces expected to be delivered in phases over 25 years and costing close to or more than $5 billion or $6 billion.
Earlier parts of stadium demolition work led by Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. included removing four covered multistory spiral walkways leading to the upper level from the ground, and concourse bridges.
Demolishing the stadium is projected to be done by August, according to Carr.
Building the new facility is expected to be finished in 2029.
Hawaii
This Airbnb Tiny Home Sits on a Lava Field in Hawaii With Unbeatable Night Sky Views—and It’s a Guest Favorite
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/tal-airbnb-one-off-tout-1465b3bde0864117b43761b0d1dd346e.jpg?ssl=1 "This Airbnb Tiny Home Sits on a Lava Field in Hawaii With Unbeatable Night Sky Views—and It’s a Guest Favorite")
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The team behind a popular Hawaii-based home renovation show is now facing legal troubles after airing content that shouldn’t have been released, according to the state.
Hawaii’s Attorney General is now involved after HGTV’s ‘Renovation Aloha’ showed uncensored images of apparent ancient skeletal remains that were discovered at a Hilo property.
In a now-deleted clip on social media, Kamohai and Tristyn Kalama, along with the production team, discovered a cave beneath a Hilo property where they found the remains deep inside.
Video documented their shock when it was found, with the hosts saying, “There’s bones back here. I got to get out of here. Are you fricken serious? I’m serious dude. Is that a skull?”
Tristyn was seen standing further back, saying “This is terrifying. I’m at my stopping point” before leaving.
Hawaii News Now is not showing the bones, but confirmed with HGTV the episode was filmed in December 2025.
Video didn’t show them touching or moving the remains, and HGTV said authorities were notified after the discovery, the property was not developed, and the site was later blessed.
At the time, police said no crime was committed, and the state AG obtained a TRO to prevent the broadcast of the images in accordance with state law.
However this week, uncensored video of the bones was posted online by the Kalamas and HGTV, and included in the episode, triggering a quick rebuke from the community.
“We don’t kaula’i iwi. We do not lay our bones out in the sun to expose him in this manner,” former Oahu Island Burial Council Chair Kumu Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu said.
She also said the release of the images was “extremely disappointing,” saying the damage was already done.
“It is irrelevant that bones were not moved. It is irrelevant that they were not disturbed, per se, because somebody didn’t touch them — but you went into their space and that space becomes kapu space once they have transitioned over to po. And when you do that, we honor that. We don’t disturb them,” Wong-Kalu added.
The AG said they took immediate legal action to prevent the unlawful broadcast of images, pointing to a TRO issued prior to the episode’s release. They also said, “We are aware that the segment aired notwithstanding the court’s order, and we take this matter very seriously. The Department will pursue additional action as necessary.”
Court Documents revealed the Kalamas and producers of the show are now facing four counts for allegedly breaking Iwi Kupuna protection rules.
“If that were our grandparent, would we want them, after they have physically transitioned to po, would we want to share our family in this manner? I don’t think so,” Wong-Kalu added.
HGTV said in a statement, “We take the concerns raised by the community very seriously and are committed to ensuring our programming is respectful and appropriate. We apologize to anyone who found any part of the episode offensive, that was not HGTV’s intention.”
They also confirmed the original episode was removed, and re-edited without the bones included.
Through our communication with the HGTV spokesperson, Hawaii News Now offered the Kalamas a chance to respond directly, but they did not. They did however take to Instagram to address the episode, saying they followed the protocols they knew, and never intended to build there. They stressed their respect for Hawaiian culture and practices.
The investigation remains active.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
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