Hawaii Ordinances (2026)

Act 39 (2024), codified at HRS § 46-4.8, requires every county to amend its zoning to allow at least two accessory dwelling units on residentially zoned lots with adequate water and…

Hawaii's Act 39 (2024), codified at HRS §46-4.8, orders every county to allow at least two accessory dwelling units, or the reasonable equivalent, on all residentially zoned urban…

Hawaii regulates beekeeping statewide through the Department of Agriculture. Under HRS 142-100, beekeepers may register their apiaries, and the department runs an apiary program with…

Hawaii makes livestock owners strictly liable for damage their animals cause when straying onto cultivated land, roads, or others' property. Under HRS §142-63 and §142-64 the owner…

Hawaii has no comprehensive statewide leash law; dog leash and at-large rules are set by county ordinance. State law (HRS 143-8) authorizes officers to seize unlicensed dogs found…

Hawaii has the strictest exotic pet rules in the United States. HRS Chapter 150A and Department of Agriculture rules prohibit importing or possessing most non-native animals…

Hawaii regulates retail sales of electronic smoking devices and e-liquid under HRS Chapter 245 and 712-1258, requiring retailer permits, age verification, and packaging standards for…

Hawaii Department of Health licenses a fixed number of medical cannabis dispensaries statewide and sets buffer requirements. Counties cannot create additional licenses or override…

Hawaii allows registered medical cannabis patients to grow up to ten plants at one secured location under HRS 329-122. As of December 31, 2024, primary caregivers may no longer…

Hawaii statute imposes a uniform curfew on minors under 16 statewide between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. The state-level curfew applies in every county, with limited exceptions for accompanied…

Hawaii has no general statewide paid sick leave mandate, but HRS Chapter 392 requires employers to provide temporary disability insurance for non-work injuries, and family leave is…

Hawaii's Coastal Zone Management law requires Special Management Area permits for development near the shoreline. State sets minimum standards while counties process most permits…

Hawaii regulates shoreline erosion through state Coastal Zone Management law. Statewide setback rules and special management area permits govern coastal construction. Counties…

Hawaii Department of Health administers federal NPDES stormwater permits statewide. Construction sites disturbing one or more acres and certain industrial activities must comply with…

Hawaii applies common law tort principles statewide under HRS 663-1, allowing neighbors to sue for spite fences and shared boundary fence cost recovery regardless of which county they…

Hawaii regulates fireworks under HRS Chapter 132D, requiring state-issued licenses for import, sale, and display, and prohibiting aerial and unauthorized consumer fireworks statewide…

Hawaii prohibits open burning statewide under HRS Chapter 342B and HAR Title 11 Chapter 60.1 Subchapter 3, with limited exceptions for cooking, fire training, and permitted…

Hawaii law directs the State Fire Council to adopt a statewide fire code setting minimum requirements for the storage, handling, and use of hazardous materials, which covers LP-gas…

Hawaii's post-Lahaina fire law directs the State Fire Marshal to establish minimum defensible space requirements statewide and maintain a wildfire hazard map showing hazard zones…

HRS 134-9 governs Hawaii concealed carry licensing. Following the U.S. Supreme Court's Bruen decision, Hawaii revised standards but maintains stringent training, application, and…

Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 134 establishes statewide firearms regulations, but unlike many states, Hawaii does not broadly preempt counties from enacting local firearms ordinances…

Hawaii prohibits open carry of firearms in public without a license issued under HRS 134-9. Unlicensed open carry is a felony, making Hawaii one of the most restrictive states for…

Hawaii imposes some of the nation's strictest rules on carrying firearms in vehicles. HRS 134-25 and HRS 134-26 prohibit carrying a loaded or unloaded pistol, revolver, or long gun in…

Hawaii has no charitable-gaming exemption: HRS § 712-1220 defines any paid-entry raffle, bingo game, or drawing as a "lottery," and Chapter 712 excludes only bona fide business…

Hawaii bans nearly all gambling as a misdemeanor under HRS 712-1223, but 712-1231 lets a defendant assert social gambling as an affirmative defense at trial -- requiring equal-terms…

Hawaii outlaws sports betting outright under HRS §712-1223: knowingly participating in any gambling activity, including wagering on a game's outcome, is a misdemeanor. Bookmaking…

Under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-10.5, all unpaid assessments automatically become a lien on the unit that the association may foreclose by court action or by nonjudicial power-of-sale…

Under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-5, all board meetings except executive sessions must be open to members. Section 421J-3.5 requires at least 14 days' written notice of regular, annual, or…

Under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-13, almost any dispute over interpreting or enforcing the association documents must, at any party's request, first go to mediation. Section 421J-10 awards…

Hawaii's right-to-dry statute, HRS section 196-8.5, says no covenant, declaration, bylaw, deed, lease or similar binding agreement may prevent an owner from installing a clothesline on…

Hawaii law says no covenant, declaration, bylaw, deed, lease or similar agreement may stop an owner from installing an electric vehicle charging system on or near the parking stall of…

Hawaii's Planned Community Associations law, Haw. Rev. Stat. Chapter 421J, contains no statute authorizing fines, capping fine amounts, or prescribing notice or hearing procedures…

Hawaii condominiums run on HRS chapter 514B, not on the planned community law in chapter 421J, and section 514B-146 gives the association a broad lien with narrow but real limits. An…

Hawaii's condominium act limits leasing restrictions adopted as board rules, not leasing restrictions written into the governing documents. Under HRS section 514B-105(b), unless the…

Hawaii has no cottage food statute. The exemption lives in the Department of Health's Food Safety Code, Hawaii Administrative Rules chapter 11-50, which was amended and compiled on…

Hawaii requires state Department of Human Services registration or licensing for home-based child care serving non-relatives. Standards for staff ratios, safety, and inspections apply…

Hawaii has no microenterprise home kitchen permit, but it does have a genuine hot-meal carve-out. Hawaii Administrative Rules section 11-50-3(d)(5) exempts a home kitchen operated by a…

Sobriety checkpoints are legal in Hawaii, where the statutes call them intoxicant control roadblocks. HRS §291E-19 lets the police departments of the four counties run them, but only…

Hawaii protects the right to film police, but it never wrote a standalone right-to-record statute. Act 164, Session Laws of Hawaii 2016, instead inserted a matching proviso into the…

Hawaii has no statute that obliges a person to identify themselves to police generally. The duty exists only where a specific chapter creates it. HRS §291C-172 requires anyone detained…

Hawaii has no statute saying that lawful cannabis possession cannot justify a vehicle search. Its medical cannabis law works the other way round: HRS §329-125(a) lets a registered…

Hawaii law protects endangered and threatened native plants on all lands statewide. Taking, destroying, or possessing listed native species without a permit is prohibited regardless of…

Hawaii's Department of Health runs a statewide program under HRS §340E-4.8 that tests residential rainwater catchment water each year for lead and copper for a $25 household fee, and…

Hawaii's Exceptional Tree Act protects designated exceptional trees statewide. Removing, destroying, or damaging an exceptional tree without county arborist approval is prohibited…

Hawaii's State Water Code establishes uniform water use regulation through the Commission on Water Resource Management. Designated water management areas trigger mandatory permits and…

Hawaii recognizes exactly one street-legal low-speed class, the neighborhood electric vehicle, and the words golf cart appear nowhere in HRS chapters 249, 286, 291 or 291C. A…

Federal FAA law preempts state and county regulation of aircraft in flight. Hawaii cannot directly limit helicopter or airplane noise, leaving complaints to the FAA and airport…

HRS 201-8.5 requires all state agencies to use fully shielded outdoor lighting fixtures emitting more than 3,000 lumens with a correlated color temperature at or below 4,000 Kelvin to…

Hawaii statutorily defines abandoned vehicles and authorizes counties to remove them under uniform standards. State law sets timelines, notice requirements, owner liability, and…

Hawaii state law requires public parking lots with 100 or more spaces to designate at least one stall for electric vehicles, with EV charging infrastructure. The statute applies…

Hawaii caps what a towing company may charge for a nonconsensual tow from private or public property: $75 for a tow, $85 with a dolly, $7.50 per mile and $25 per day storage for the…

Hawaii requires written notice before eviction. For nonpayment of rent, HRS § 521-68 requires a written demand giving the tenant not less than five business days to pay before the…

HRS § 521-42 imposes an implied warranty of habitability. A Hawaii landlord must comply with applicable building and housing laws materially affecting health and safety, make repairs…

Under HRS § 521-53, a Hawaii landlord must give the tenant at least two days' notice before entering the dwelling unit and may enter only during reasonable hours, except in an…

Hawaii caps rent late charges by statute. Under HRS § 521-21(f), where the rental agreement provides for a late charge for rent not paid when due, that charge may not exceed eight per…

For a month-to-month tenancy, HRS § 521-71 requires the landlord to give at least 45 days' written notice to terminate and the tenant to give at least 28 days' written notice. Where…

Hawaii has no rent control and sets no cap on the amount of a rent increase, but the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code requires advance written notice. Under HRS § 521-21, rent on a…

Hawaii requires every operator of a transient accommodation, including short-term vacation rentals statewide, to register with the Department of Taxation, obtain a TAT identification…

Under Haw. Rev. Stat. 521-44, a landlord may collect a security deposit of up to one month's rent, plus a separate pet deposit of up to one month's rent. The deposit must be returned…

Hawaii makes adverse possession very hard to claim. HRS § 657-31 bars an action to recover land after twenty years, but HRS § 657-31.5 limits any adverse-possession claim accruing…

Hawaii uniquely classifies all land statewide into four state land use districts under HRS Chapter 205, with the Agricultural District protecting farmland and limiting non-agricultural…

HRS Chapter 165, Hawaii's Right to Farm Act, bars courts from declaring a farming operation a nuisance if it is conducted consistent with generally accepted agricultural and management…

Hawaii imposes a statewide Transient Accommodations Tax (TAT) of 10.25% on gross rental proceeds for stays under 180 consecutive days, applying universally to all short-term rental…

Hawaii's statewide billboard ban under HRS 264-72 prohibits commercial signs visible from state highways, including garage sale signs posted on utility poles, trees, or within highway…

Hawaii's billboard ban (HRS 264-72) does not list political signs among its exemptions. Campaign signs are instead allowed on private property with the owner's consent, but HDOT bars…

HRS Section 196-7 prohibits any homeowners association, condominium, or planned community from preventing the installation of a solar energy device on a homeowner's roof or property…

Hawaii bars county building departments from issuing a permit for any new single-family home unless it includes a solar water heater system meeting state standards. Only a licensed…

Every public pool in Hawaii must post and enforce a placard of health-safety rules under Hawaii Administrative Rules §11-10-22, and operate under a Department of Health permit issued…

Hawaii was the first U.S. state to raise the tobacco purchase age to 21 in 2016. HRS 712-1258 prohibits the sale, furnishing, or purchase of tobacco and electronic smoking devices by…

Hawaii has no statewide ban on flavored tobacco or vape products, but the City and County of Honolulu and other county governments have considered or adopted local restrictions…

Hawaii's HI-5 program under HRS 342G-110 places a 5-cent refundable deposit on every beverage container sold statewide. Distributors pay the deposit plus a per-container fee to the…

Hawaii's toughest lighting rule is about colour, not brightness. HRS §291-31.5 makes it an offense to knowingly operate, affix, display or even possess any lamp, reflector or…

Hawaii does not prohibit mounting a dash camera on the windshield or the dashboard. Three separate closed lists in the statutes could have caught one and none of them does: HRS §286-83…

Lane splitting and lane filtering are both unlawful in Hawaii. HRS section 291C-153(c) says no person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or…

Since Act 124 took effect on May 29, 2025, Hawaii has one of the bluntest plate-cover rules in the country. HRS section 286-73 prohibits the use of any cover or shield installed over a…

Hawaii does not run a studded-tire season. HRS section 291-33 bans operating any vehicle on a public road whose wheels carry flanges, ribs, clamps, cleats, lugs, chains, spikes or…

Hawaii allows sun screening film on the front side windows and wing vents only if the film and the glass together pass a light transmittance of no less than thirty-five per cent plus…