The People's Ledger
← All Hawaii bills

HB698Introduced in the House

Relating To Animal Cruelty.

Engrossed

Introduced by Darius Kila, District 44

What does this bill do?

Plain-English breakdown

Writing a plain-English summary of this bill… this can take a few seconds the first time.

Official description

Increases the criminal penalties for the offenses of cruelty to animals in the first and second degree that involve pet animals. Increases the criminal penalty for a second or subsequent offense of causing injury or death to a service animal or law enforcement animal. Effective 7/1/2050. (SD2)

Where it stands

Received notice of the discharge of all House Conferees (Hse. Com. No. 457).

April 2, 2026

How did lawmakers vote?

SenateStage: Senate Judiciary: Passed, With Amendments · March 31, 2025

4

Yes

0

No

1

Absent or Not Voting

5 senators recorded in this Senate vote. Colors show vote categories only, not whether a vote was good or bad.

What do people think?

Citizen Voice

How would you vote on this bill?

An unofficial public opinion poll. It does not affect the bill or the official vote.

One response per device. Location is self-reported and not verified. Results are informal and not a scientific survey.

See how each senator voted

SenatorDistrictVote
Joy San Buenaventura2Absent
Stanley Chang9Yes
Karl Rhoads13Yes
Mike Gabbard21Yes
Brenton Awa23Yes

Bill history

  1. Pending introduction.

  2. Introduced and Pass First Reading.

  3. Referred to JHA, referral sheet 2

  4. Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Thursday, 02-20-25 2:00PM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.

  5. The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Belatti, Hashem, Kahaloa, Takayama, Todd, Garcia, Shimizu; Ayes with reservations: none; 1 Noes: Representative(s) Perruso; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Cochran.

  6. Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 826) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and placement on the calendar for Third Reading.

  7. 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) Cochran, Pierick, Templo, Ward excused (4).

  8. Passed Third Reading with Representative(s) Iwamoto, Souza voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Kapela, Pierick, Ward excused (3). Transmitted to Senate.

  9. Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 269).

  10. Passed First Reading.

  11. Referred to AEN, JDC.

  12. Re-Referred to JDC.

  13. The committee(s) on JDC has scheduled a public hearing on 03-28-25 10:00AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference (Proposed Draft).

  14. The committee(s) on JDC deferred the measure until 03-31-25 10:00AM; Conference Room 016 & Videoconference.

  15. The committee(s) on JDC recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in JDC were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Rhoads, Gabbard, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: Senator(s) Chang ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) San Buenaventura.

  16. Reported from JDC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1667) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and placement on the calendar for Third Reading.

  17. Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1).

  18. 48 Hrs. Notice 04-08-25.

  19. Floor Amendment No. 6 offered.

  20. Floor amendment adopted as amended (SD 2).

  21. 48 Hrs. Notice 04-10-25

  22. Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 2). Ayes, 22; Aye(s) with reservations: Senator(s) Aquino, Chang, DeCoite, Inouye, McKelvey, Richards, San Buenaventura. Noes, 2 (Senator(s) Awa, DeCorte). Excused, 1 (Senator(s) Fevella). Transmitted to House.

  23. Returned from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 775) in amended form (SD 2).

  24. House disagrees with Senate amendment (s).

  25. Received notice of disagreement (Hse. Com. No. 705).

  26. House Conferees Appointed: Tarnas Chair; Poepoe, Shimizu.

  27. Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 732).

  28. Senate Conferees Appointed: Rhoads Chair; DeCoite, Gabbard, Richards, Fevella.

  29. Conference committee meeting scheduled for 04-24-25 4:45PM; Conference Room 325.

  30. Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 873).

  31. Carried over to 2026 Regular Session.

  32. Senate Conferee(s) discharged.

  33. Received notice of all Senate conferees being discharged (Sen. Com. No. 409).

  34. House Conferee(s) discharged.

  35. Received notice of the discharge of all House Conferees (Hse. Com. No. 457).

Verify the information

Our commitment to neutrality

We provide factual information only. We never tell you which politicians or bills to support, and we do not rank, score, or endorse anyone.