State lawmakers are considering measures to make Hawaiʻi’s legislative session continue throughout the year, although a Senate committee recently killed a pair of those bills.
Senate Bill 733 garnered over 90 pages of written testimony before the Senate Committee on Judiciary deferred the measure on Friday.
It would have required lawmakers to meet at least once a month, remove constitutional language on session adjournments and recesses, and create a two-year deadline for bills to pass through the legislative session.
Supporters say longer sessions would give the public more time to learn about and testify on measures, instead of trying to do so during the four months or so of the session each year. They argue it could also help lawmakers.
“Thousands of bills are introduced each year, yet many do not receive full consideration under the current framework. Measures are even frequently postponed because committee chairs believe they lack sufficient time to make informed decisions,” said Anne Frederick, executive director for the Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action, in a written testimony in support of the measure.
The National Conference of State Legislatures considers Hawaiʻi one of ten states to have a full-time Legislature already. It defines full-time legislatures as those with lawmakers who are paid enough to make a living without working another job, spend more time doing legislative work, and have larger staffs.
But Hawaiʻi’s Legislature has 60 regular session days every year, and those sessions end around early May, which is among the earliest of all the other full-time legislatures.
SB 733 considers state representatives and senators to be “part-time” workers currently.

Most of the bill’s written testimony was in favor of having a longer session, although dozens wrote in to oppose the idea.
Some said that extending the sessions would unnecessarily expand government and place additional costs on taxpayers.
But Sen. Joy San Buenaventura, who covers the Puna area on Hawaiʻi Island, said she uses the time away from session to understand her constituents’ needs.
“I work in a very different island than where my constituents are, and my constituents, whose income is … very low on the (area median income) scale, can't afford to see me at the Capitol,” San Buenaventura said.
“For people like me, I'm actually more (of an) influence with the lobbyists who know the legislative schedule and who come to the building... I take advantage of the seven, eight months of the year to actually meet with my constituents.”
Though SB 733 is dead, and its companion bill in the House has yet to receive a committee hearing, there are still measures in play that could be supportive of a continuous legislative session.
House Bill 1425 and its companion bill, Senate Bill 1514, would establish a working group to study the feasibility of switching to a year-round session.
HB 1425 is scheduled for a hearing on Wednesday, and SB 1514 has a hearing on Friday.