Hawai‘i State Ethics Commission

What’s New?
Act 20 (House Bill 138) establishes a mandatory training requirement for all lobbyists who are required to register under chapter 97, Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes.

Effective April 19, 2023, all lobbyists are required to complete a lobbyist training course prior registering as a lobbyist, and repeat the training at least once every two years.

Act 20 also requires lobbyists to certify that they completed the training and keep a copy of the training certificate or other record of completion for a period of six years after submitting a lobbyist registration.

Act 20 Implementation

The Commission is currently developing a new lobbyist online training module, and will be updating the online lobbyist registration forms later this year to reflect the new requirements of Act 20. Once the online course has been launched, lobbyists will need to complete the training before they can register as a lobbyist.

But for now, if you need to file a new lobbyist registration for the current lobbying year, please sign up for a lobbyist training webinar, file your lobbyist registration, and then take the webinar as soon as it is made available.

To accommodate new lobbyists, the Commission has scheduled two lobbyist law training webinars in January 2024. Please click here to sign up.

Current Lobbyists

If you already registered as a lobbyist for 2023-2024, your lobbyist registrations will remain valid through the end of the legislative biennium on December 31, 2024, and you can take the lobbyist training when you renew your registration for 2025-2026.

But if you are hired to lobby for a new client for 2023-2024, then you must file a separate lobbyist registration and complete your mandatory lobbyist training as indicated above.

If you have any questions, please contact the Commission’s office for further assistance.