Hawaiʻi's Biosecurity Law (Act 236): What Changes on January 1, 2027
Act 236 (2025) renamed Hawaiʻi's agriculture department the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity and rebuilt the state's invasive-species law in stages. Tougher penalties and a public pest dashboard are already in force. On January 1, 2027 a new deputy chairperson for biosecurity takes office. Emergency powers and New Zealand-style transitional facilities follow on January 1, 2028, and the Invasive Species Council moves to the department in 2030.
What Act 236 is
What changes on January 1, 2027 is leadership: Act 236 creates a deputy chairperson for biosecurity, appointed by the governor, who oversees all of the department's biosecurity programs, including plant and animal quarantine (Act 236, SLH 2025). The biosecurity emergency power many people associate with the law does not take effect until January 1, 2028.
Act 236 of the 2025 Session Laws of Hawaiʻi began as House Bill 427 and was signed by Governor Josh Green on June 27, 2025 (Dept. of Agriculture & Biosecurity, July 7, 2025; Office of the Governor). Its nine parts switch on at different times between 2025 and 2030 (Act 236, SLH 2025), so some of its best-known powers are not in force yet.
The first change is the name. The Department of Agriculture became the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity (DAB) and the Board of Agriculture became the Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity, with the new names in effect from July 1, 2025 (Dept. of Agriculture & Biosecurity, July 7, 2025). At least one appointed board member must now have a biosecurity background (Act 236, SLH 2025).
The same session's state budget, Act 250, included $26.6 million and 44 new positions for biosecurity at the department, which DAB called unprecedented (Dept. of Agriculture & Biosecurity, July 7, 2025). Act 236 adds $4.25 million a year for the Invasive Species Council and $500,000 a year each for the Hawaiʻi Ant Lab and the coconut rhinoceros beetle response, for fiscal years 2025-26 and 2026-27 (Act 236, SLH 2025).
A naming trap. The department's annual biosecurity report answers to a different law, Act 236 of 2008, which created its Biosecurity Program (DAB annual biosecurity report, Dec. 2025). This explainer covers Act 236 of 2025.| Date | What takes effect | Source |
|---|---|---|
| June 27, 2025 | Governor signs HB 427 as Act 236; plant care component rules (wood chips, compost, filter socks) take effect on approval | Act 236, §47 |
| July 1, 2025 | New names: Department and Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity | DAB |
| July 1, 2025 | Higher penalties, interisland inspection language, government-industry agreements and the pest dashboard mandate | Act 236, §47(4) |
| Dec. 1, 2025 | Pest dashboard goes live at biosecurity.hawaii.gov | DAB |
| Jan. 1, 2027 | Deputy chairperson for biosecurity established (Part II) | Act 236, §47(2) |
| Jan. 1, 2028 | Biosecurity emergency power (Part III) and transitional facilities and compliance auditors (sections 25 to 27 and 32) | Act 236, §47(3) |
| Jan. 1, 2030 | Hawaii Invasive Species Council transfers from DLNR to the department (Part VII) | Act 236, §47(6) |
What changes on January 1, 2027
Part II of the Act creates a deputy chairperson for biosecurity inside the department (Act 236, SLH 2025). The text gives the position three features worth knowing:
- Scope. The deputy oversees all of the department's biosecurity initiatives, including the plant quarantine and animal quarantine programs in chapters 142 and 150A of the Hawaii Revised Statutes.
- Appointment. The deputy reports to the board chairperson and is appointed by the governor without regard to the civil service law (chapter 76).
Any state department, agency, county or contracted party that does not provide information to the pest dashboard "shall not receive or expend public funds," and the deputy chairperson for biosecurity is responsible for ensuring compliance with that rule (Act 236, SLH 2025). That makes one official answerable for whether agencies share biosecurity data.
A deputy is not a new agency: the inspectors, labs and response crews stay the same, plus the new budget positions (Dept. of Agriculture & Biosecurity, July 7, 2025).
What is already in force
Penalties. Fines for breaking the import and interisland transport rules went up, doubling for a first violation, and intentionally moving a designated pest in order to propagate, sell or release it is now a class C felony (Act 236, SLH 2025). Anyone who voluntarily surrenders a pest, a prohibited animal or an unpermitted restricted organism before the department starts a seizure is exempt from these penalties.| Violation | Penalty now | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Violating import or interisland transport rules, first violation | Fine of $100 to $10,000 (was $50 to $5,000) | §150A-14(b) |
| Second violation within five years | Fine of $500 to $25,000 (was $250 to $15,000) | §150A-14(b) |
| Prohibited animals, or restricted or unlisted organisms, without a permit | Misdemeanor, fine of $5,000 to $20,000 | §150A-14(c)(1) |
| Intentionally importing or moving a designated pest, including interisland, to propagate, sell or release it | Class C felony, fine of $50,000 to $200,000 | §150A-14(c)(3) |
What comes in 2028 and 2030
Biosecurity emergencies (January 1, 2028)
From 2028 the department, with the governor's approval, may declare a biosecurity emergency when a pest or a prohibited or restricted organism has broken out and could cause significant economic or environmental loss, could spread from one area, or is beyond the state's ability to control (Act 236, SLH 2025). A declaration ends automatically after 100 calendar days unless extended. While it lasts, the department is exempt from the state procurement code and the governor may move money to it from accounts under the governor's control. The governor may also requisition goods, property or watercraft, with compensation (Act 236, SLH 2025).
Transitional facilities and compliance auditors (January 1, 2028)
The Legislature's findings point to New Zealand, where it says most imported goods that need inspection move from the port to one of about 6,500 privately run secure transitional facilities, where a government-licensed private individual inspects them (Act 236, SLH 2025). New Zealand's regulator approves such facilities to hold, inspect, treat or destroy risk goods (New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries).
Hawaiʻi's version lets the department license transitional facilities and certify biosecurity compliance auditors. Certification lasts one year, names the specific facility where the auditor may work, and allows the auditor to be employed by the facility owner; goods may only leave a facility after inspection or certification (Act 236, SLH 2025).
Invasive Species Council moves (January 1, 2030)
The Hawaii Invasive Species Council, now attached to the Department of Land and Natural Resources, transfers to DAB in 2030 (Act 236, SLH 2025). The Council tracks the Hawaiʻi Interagency Biosecurity Plan, adopted in 2017 with roughly 150 actions as the state's guide for the coming decade (Hawaii Invasive Species Council).
The workload the new structure inherits
The department's December 2025 report to the Legislature gives a sense of scale for fiscal year 2025 (DAB annual biosecurity report, Dec. 2025):
- 8,238,266 lots of regulated commodities inspected, with 2,856 lots requiring treatment, destruction, confiscation or shipment out of the state.
- 98.2 percent (1,463 of 1,489) of flights inspected and cleared under the brown treesnake interdiction program, which covers aircraft and ships from Guam and other places where the snake is established.
- On Oʻahu, 218 coqui responses with 2,287 frogs captured, and 82 little fire ant surveys in which 2,791 of 31,032 samples were positive at 22 sites.
The same report notes that the brown treesnake work relies on a federal grant the department has received each year since 2020, and that its future was uncertain (DAB annual biosecurity report, Dec. 2025). ISPI examines that kind of exposure in HI-05: Federal Funding Uncertainty and Hawaii's Island Resilience.
Coconut rhinoceros beetle shows how the rules now reach individual businesses. In March 2026 the board approved Interim Rule 26-1, which restricts moving beetle host materials such as mulch, compost and potted plants in a designated West Hawaiʻi Island area; businesses handling them there need a compliance agreement and training (DAB, Interim Rule 26-1). On July 28, 2026 the board expanded that area (DAB, July 28, 2026).
Why biosecurity is a security issue for islands
For an island state, ports and airports are the border for pests as well as people. The terminals and shipping lanes that carry food and fuel also carry hitchhiking insects, plant diseases and animals, which is why the Act ties inspection to cargo notification rules (Act 236, SLH 2025). ISPI's PB-05: When 90 Percent Arrives by Ship, PB-07: Supply Chain Insider Risk in Island Ports and WP-06 look at that dependence on a few ports and the people who work in them; the island supply chain FAQ collects the main questions.
Biosecurity failures also become emergency management problems, competing for the same small pool of public staff. ISPI's HI-06: Hawaii's Infrastructure and Island Emergency Resilience, the Red Hill and island water security explainer, the COOP guide for island local government and PB-10 cover how island governments plan for disruptions they cannot easily import help for.
The regional frame points the same way. The Pacific Islands Forum's Boe Declaration lists environmental and resource security among its threat areas (see the Boe Declaration explainer), and Hawaiʻi's brown treesnake program exists because of what happened on Guam (see the Guam and CNMI research hub). In ISPI's reading, Act 236 is Hawaiʻi treating biosecurity as part of the security system rather than only as an agricultural program.
What to watch next
- The appointment. Who the governor names as deputy chairperson for biosecurity, and what priorities that person sets in 2027.
- Rules. Interisland inspection requirements for specific items, and transitional facility and auditor standards that need to exist before January 1, 2028.
- The dashboard. Whether more pests and agencies appear on biosecurity.hawaii.gov.
- The next plan. The 2017 interagency plan was written for a decade (Hawaii Invasive Species Council); watch for a successor as the Council prepares to move in 2030.
- Funding after 2027. Act 236's Council, Ant Lab and beetle appropriations cover fiscal years 2025-26 and 2026-27 only.
To report a suspected invasive species in Hawaiʻi, the department lists the statewide Pest Hotline, 808-643-PEST (7378), and 643pest.org (DAB, Dec. 1, 2025). For more on public safety policy in the state, see ISPI's Hawaiʻi public safety research hub.
ISPI publishes its research free under CC BY 4.0. If your government, agency or organization needs a briefing on biosecurity governance, port and border risk, or emergency planning for invasive-species threats, you can commission research from ISPI. ISPI is a nonprofit organization; its application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is pending. Contributions are not tax-deductible until IRS recognition is granted.
Sources
- Act 236, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025 (H.B. No. 427), “Relating to Biosecurity” (PDF)
- Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture & Biosecurity, “Biosecurity Legislation Enacted,” NR25-17, July 7, 2025
- Office of the Governor, “Gov. Green Enacts Legislation to Uphold Agricultural and Biosecurity Resilience and Support Local Innovation”
- Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture & Biosecurity, “Biosecurity Website Established,” NR25-35, December 1, 2025
- Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, biosecurity.hawaii.gov (pest dashboard)
- Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, Annual Report on the Biosecurity Program in Response to Act 236, SLH 2008, Report to the 2026 Legislature, December 2025 (PDF)
- Hawaii Invasive Species Council, “Hawaiʻi Interagency Biosecurity Plan”
- Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, “IR26-1: Interim Rule 26-1 Restricting the Transportation of Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Host Materials on West Hawaiʻi Island”
- Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity, “Expansion of Designated Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle-Infested Area in West Hawaiʻi Island,” NR26-16, July 28, 2026
- New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, “Types of facilities used for clearance of goods into New Zealand”
- ISPI papers: PB-05, PB-07, WP-06, HI-06, HI-05, PB-10
