What changed in Hawaii
Insurance law does not sit still, but most guides are written once and left alone. Repealed programs and retired forms keep circulating for years. This is what actually changed inHawaii, when, and where to verify it.
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June 3, 2026
Moving hereBringing a car in and not registering it now carries a $500 to $1,000 fine
Act 73 of 2026 (S.B. 2697) amended Haw. Rev. Stat. § 286-61 to add a penalty aimed squarely at vehicles shipped in from the mainland: an owner who fails to register an out-of-state vehicle under § 286-41, § 286-50 or § 286-54 is fined not less than $500 and not more than $1,000 for each violation. Before this the general penalty section had no figure aimed at new arrivals. It took effect on June 3, 2026, so it is too new to appear in most guides.
Hawaii Act 73, SLH 2026 (S.B. 2697 SD1 HD2 CD1) — enrolled textJanuary 1, 2026
Minimum coverageHawaii doubled every liability minimum — 20/40/10 became 40/80/20
Part II of Act 138, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024 (S.B. 2342, S.D. 2, H.D. 3, C.D. 1) amended Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-301(b) to raise bodily injury liability from $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident to $40,000 and $80,000, and property damage liability from $10,000 to $20,000. Section 7 of the Act delayed part II to January 1, 2026, while the rest of the Act took effect July 1, 2024. Section 5 told the insurance commissioner to solicit rate filings by January 1, 2025, with filings due July 1, 2025, so that the rates matched the new limits for policies effective on or after January 1, 2026. The legislature's own finding was that the minimums "remained unamended for nearly twenty-five years". Any guide still printing 20/40/10 for Hawaii is quoting the figures that expired at the end of 2025; the Insurance Division's own FAQ now states 40/80/20 and warns drivers their premium may rise around 25 percent. The $10,000 personal injury protection minimum was not changed.
Act 138, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024 (S.B. 2342), §§ 3 and 7July 1, 2025
Moving hereSafety inspection fee went to $25.75 — the first increase since 2017
The Hawaii Department of Transportation raised the periodic motor vehicle inspection fee by 75 cents effective July 1, 2025: $25.75 for automobiles and trucks and $17.75 for motorcycles and trailers. The replacement fee for a lost or destroyed sticker or certificate went from $6.34 to $7.09. HDOT continues to keep $1.70 of each fee for administration and enforcement, the program contractor's share rose from $1.34 to $2.09, and the inspection station keeps the rest. Roughly 1.2 million safety inspections are performed in Hawaii each year at about 500 permitted stations. Because the fee is set by rule under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 286-26(e) rather than by statute, it can move again after a public hearing without any legislation.
Hawaii Department of Transportation — Updates to motor vehicle safety inspection fees for 2025June 3, 2025
Moving hereHead lamps joined mufflers on the safety check list
Act 172, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025 (S.B. 1216, S.D. 1, H.D. 2, C.D. 1), signed by Governor Green on June 3, 2025 and effective on approval, amended Haw. Rev. Stat. § 286-26. The enrolled text underscores new language in subsection (e) requiring a vehicle to adhere to the head lamp requirements and specifications of § 291-25(a) before a certificate of inspection is issued, and rewrites subsection (g) so that the director's rules must, at a minimum, check muffler and exhaust compliance under § 291-24 or § 291-24.5 and include those head lamp specifications. The same Act added two separate consequences: an inspection station that wilfully breaks the muffler-check rule three times in eighteen months can lose its permit (§ 286-211(d)), and repairing or installing a noncompliant muffler or exhaust system became a prohibited practice for repair dealers (§ 437B-11(17)). Older descriptions of Hawaii's safety check as an exhaust-and-equipment inspection are missing the head lamp item.
Act 172, Session Laws of Hawaii 2025 (S.B. 1216), §§ 1, 2, 5 and 8July 1, 2024
Driving uninsuredMinimum fine for a repeat no-insurance conviction rose from $1,500 to $2,000
Part I of the same Act 138 amended Haw. Rev. Stat. § 431:10C-117(a)(2)(B). The enrolled text brackets "$1,500" and underscores "$2,000" as the minimum fine "for each subsequent offense that occurs within a five-year period from any prior offense"; the $500 first-offense fine was left alone. This part took effect July 1, 2024. Note that the figure is a floor with no ceiling stated in that subparagraph, so sources that print it as a flat $2,000 are reading it too narrowly. The court may still suspend all or part of the fine if the defendant produces a current policy, and may substitute 200 to 275 hours of community service on a second offense.
Act 138, Session Laws of Hawaii 2024 (S.B. 2342), §§ 2 and 7
What this list does and does not cover
Recorded here: changes to the rules this site tracks for Hawaii — liability minimums, SR-22 and proof-of-insurance requirements, penalties for driving uninsured, the fault system, what a lapse costs, new-resident deadlines and crash reporting. Each entry names the session law or statute that made the change and the date it took effect, not the date it was signed.
Not recorded: rate filings, individual insurer decisions, court rulings that do not change the text of the law, and changes to rules outside those seven subjects. A short list does not mean a quiet legislature — it means little moved in the parts of Hawaii law a driver has to comply with.
A change that has passed but has not yet taken effect is not shown as current anywhere on this site. It sits on the Hawaii pages as a dated pending value and replaces the current figure on the morning it comes into force. You can see every pending change across the country at the top of the national change feed, and the sources behind the Hawaii figures on its statute index.