Hawaii residents could be allowed to kill feral chickens in their community in the latest effort to help resolve a perennial issue that continues to divide neighbors who both hate and love them.

Two bills being considered this legislative session would allow residents to kill feral chickens, under House Bill 1852 and the latest version of HB 980, which stalled in the 2025 legislative session but automatically rolled into this one.

Neither bill limits how chickens could be killed, but they both would outlaw “torture and extreme abuse.”

HB 1852 and HB 980 represent merely the latest effort from legislators to address their constituents’ complaints about chickens overrunning homes, parks, businesses and schools.

People typically complain that feral chickens threaten Hawaii’s fragile ecosystem and could spread disease, especially with the increase in avian influenza cases.

In 2023 alone, legislation focused on enforcing fines for feeding feral chickens, statewide control and authorization of trapping chickens using electronic devices.

In 2025, some bills included a five-year eradication program, legal liability for property owners and public education.

This year, HB 1852 and HB 980 take a different approach.

According to HB 980, feral chickens “have become a persistent nuisance” by wandering onto private property, agitate household pets and create dangerous situations for drivers.

It also cited cases of bird flu and emphasized its danger to native bird populations and humans.

As of February 2025, according to the bill, there were 68 reported infections and at least one confirmed death of bird flu since March 2024.

“The uncontrolled presence of feral chickens increases the risk of spreading the disease and highlights the urgent need to take action,” according to HB 980.

Killing feral chickens would be allowed only on private land and with written permission of the landowner.

The bill also requires that the killing must be done humanely with methods consistent with American Veterinary Medical Association euthanasia guidelines.

HB 1852 takes a broader and less restrictive approach.

“No person shall be prohibited from killing a mongoose or a feral chicken in any manner not prohibited by law, including by trapping,” according to HB 1852.

Unlike HB 980, HB 1852 does not limit where a person can kill a chicken nor requires landowner permission.

HB 1852 also removes feral chickens from the definition of “wild birds,” which excludes them from wildlife protections.

The bill amends animal cruelty laws to exempt acts against feral chickens, while still prohibiting torture and extreme abuse.

No one had submitted written testimony on behalf of HB 1852 as of last week.

But last year, Kayla Marie submitted written testimony in opposition to HB 980.

“The methods of killing chickens outlined in this bill are cruel,” Marie said. “I feel that the state should focus on other methods to manage the chicken population that doesn’t involve the slaughter of animals.”

The Hawaiian Humane Society also opposed HB 980.

“A far more impactful response to avian flu concerns would be to shut down cock fighting operations and the breeding of roosters on agricultural lands,” according its written testimony.

But, Thomas Haia wrote in support and argued, “this measure is necessary to permit landowners the right to protect their land, livestock and pets.”

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A new report says last year was the second-driest year in more than a century.

According to the inaugural Hawaii Annual Climate Report, 2025 was Hawaii’s sixth warmest year since 1920 statewide, and Maui experienced its driest year on record, while Hawaii Island reported its second driest year.

The report was published by the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program and aims to connect communities, resource managers, and policymakers with the climate data behind what many experienced firsthand, providing essential information to support climate preparedness and long-term planning across the islands.

“Throughout 2025, we heard people across the state talking about just how hot and dry the year felt,” said Ryan Longman, director of the Hawaii Climate Data Portal. “Now we have the data to show what people were experiencing on the ground.”

“Hawaii as a state was the second driest year in 106 years,” Longman said. “We saw that 11 out of the 12 months had a below-average rainfall. Regarding temperature, we saw that all 12 months were warmer than average in the last 36 years.”

UH said the report reflects decades of effort to monitor Hawaii’s climate and conduct research, through more than eight years of collaboration by a team of climate and data scientists to develop climate maps and decision support tools.

The university added that the report will continue to improve the quality and detail of future reports by expanding on-the-ground climate observations with data from the Hawaii Mesonet.

The report will also have monthly climate update summaries, which are expected later this spring.

“We hope this type of reporting helps connect residents to their own lived experiences with Hawaii’s climate and gives communities the information they need to plan for what’s ahead,” Longman said.

Click here to learn more and view the report.

Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

A lawsuit the federal government filed against Michigan over fossil fuels has been thrown out — prompting Hawaii to use that case to bolster its own of efforts to hold private companies accountable for their role in climate change.

The federal government filed a lawsuit against Hawaii on April 30 after Gov. Josh Green announced he planned to sue private fossil fuel companies for deceptive marketing that contributed to climate change harms. The federal government’s lawsuit came just one day before the state filed its lawsuit.

The state’s lawsuit against fossil fuel companies — Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell and others — was filed
May 1. It claims fossil fuel companies knew the “catastrophic consequences for the planet and its people” of fossil fuel pollution, but rather than inform consumers of the danger the companies “mounted a decades-­
long campaign of deception to discredit the scientific consensus on climate change;” created doubt in consumers; and delayed the energy economy’s transition to a lower-carbon future “while maximizing their own profits.”

The companies created, contributed to, and assisted in creating climate change-­related harms to Hawaii through their failure to provide warnings in a “multi-decadal sophisticated campaign of disinformation,” the lawsuit said. Proceedings in the state case were paused on July 30 pending the conclusion of the federal case, court records show.

The federal government claimed Hawaii is “choosing to stand in the way” of a national effort to secure reliable sources of domestic energy in the midst of an “energy emergency.” It also claimed Hawaii’s lawsuit against fossil fuel companies interfered with the Clean Air Act and with the federal government’s “exclusive authority over interstate and foreign commerce, greenhouse gas regulation and national energy policy.”

The state denied the federal government’s allegations on June 30 and moved for the court to dismiss the case on July 25.

In its arguments, the state claimed the federal lawsuit was an “extraordinary and unprecedented action” that “attempts to prevent the state from petitioning its own courts to provide relief from private parties” whose actions violated state law and harmed the state. It said the government was looking to prevent a lawsuit to which it was not a party nor had any legal interest.

It said the state has a right to enforce state laws relating to fossil fuel companies’ marketing practices and clarified the lawsuit did not seek to impose liability for direct greenhouse gas emissions.

“Allowing this case to proceed would give the United States license to wield the federal courts as a weapon against any litigation between non-federal parties that an incumbent presidential administration dislikes,” the state argued.

In its reply, filed Sept. 24, the federal government claimed Hawaii could not sue fossil fuel companies because federal law, such as the Clean Air Act, prohibits states from holding energy companies accountable for worldwide emissions of greenhouse gasses, calling Hawaii’s lawsuit “unlawful state interference.”

On Jan. 24, U.S. District Court Judge Jane Beckering dismissed a similar case in Michigan. Hawaii filed the opinion as a supplemental exhibit on Jan. 26.

The federal government filed a lawsuit against Michigan after it heard the state was seeking proposals from attorneys to sue private fossil fuel companies for climate change impacts. Michigan filed its lawsuit accusing fossil fuel companies of colluding to stall meaningful competition from renewable energy on Jan. 23 — one day before the federal case was dismissed. The federal government’s arguments as to why it should be allowed to prevent Michigan from suing fossil fuel companies were nearly the same as it argued in its case against Hawaii.

In Beckering’s opinion, she claimed the federal government’s lawsuit was “frivolous” because it hinged on potential theories that Michigan may argue and the presumption that “any state law claim that Michigan may assert based on global greenhouse gas emissions would be preempted by federal law,” which case law does not support.

The case did not arise out of a “concrete factual context” but rather “contingent future events,” Beckering wrote, adding that the federal government failed to provide any cases where a court preemptively stopped a case based on “a broad swath of unspecified claims against unspecified members of a given industry” simply because the party was investigating legal strategies.

The federal case hearing between Hawaii and the United States on whether the case should be dismissed was rescheduled to a later unspecified date, court records show. U.S. Senior District Judge Helen Gilmor said on Jan. 22 she planned to issue a new briefing schedule, but as of Monday had not yet filed it, according to publicly available documents.