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<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, March 19, 2026</title>

Puppy's first day on the job...

Daily Smile: Thursday, March 19, 2026

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Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Students from across the state were joined by Gov. Josh Green to urge lawmakers to pass bills outlawing disposable vapes in Hawai‘i.

At a rally at the State Capitol Wednesday, scores of keiki — members of the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawai‘i Youth Council, a program of the Hawai‘i Public Health Institute — waved signs in support of several bills in the state Legislature that would mitigate an epidemic of young people becoming addicted to vapes and e-cigarettes.

, would outright prohibit the sale of disposable vapes in the state, while another, 

, would require vape manufacturers to certify every year that their products are in compliance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations.

As written, HB2121 and SB2175 are functionally identical. Beginning in 2027, both measures would make the sale of “disposable electronic smoking devices” illegal within the state. Both bills specify that the ban only apply to devices that cannot be refilled or have a non-rechargeable battery.

Nate Hix, policy director at the Hawai‘i Public Health Institute, told Aloha State Daily that, if the bills were to pass, Hawai‘i would be the first state to implement a ban on disposable vapes. However, other nations have enacted similar bans, including the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, HB1573 sets a series of requirements for vape manufacturers, which would have to prove every year that the FDA had issued their product a “marketing granted order,” without which it would be illegal to market their product in the U.S.

Furthermore, manufacturers would need to prove each year that each of their product lines sold in Hawai‘i are in compliance with state and federal laws, and pay $1,000 for each product line sold in Hawai‘i each year. The state Department of the Attorney General would then maintain a list of products approved to be sold in the state; any manufacturer who fails to prove a product complies with the state’s requirements would have that product de-listed.

Hawai‘i Attorney General Anne Lopez said the bill consequently allows the state to remove unlisted products from store shelves. Distributors selling unlisted products would be fined between $500 and $2,000 for each product in violation, while the manufacturer would be fined $10,000 per violation.

Students and politicians spoke Wednesday about the continued prevalence of vapes in schools, with Kohala Sen. Tim Richards — co-introducer of SB2175 — saying that more than one-third of Hawai‘i high schoolers have tried vapes, and that users are four times more likely to take up smoking.

Jeremiah Jacinto, senior at H.P. Baldwin High School, told ASD that vaping is out of control at schools, with school restrooms constantly crowded with illicit vapers.

“It’s gotten to the point where it’s a gamble whether the bathroom is closed because of all the kids vaping,” Jacinto said. “Sometimes the teachers don’t even bother trying to confiscate the vapes anymore.”

Jacinto said he could name “like 50 kids” addicted to vaping, adding that many keiki seem unable to function without a vape.

“It’s like a brain vacuum,” Jacinto said. “It’s like a phone, they can’t leave the house without one in their pocket. They’re always trying to sneak a hit in.”

Kea‘au Rep. Jeanne Kapela — co-introducer of HB2121 — called vape manufacturers “companies selling addiction disguised as candy,” adding that disposable vapes generate needless plastic waste that tends to litter Hawai‘i's beaches and shorelines.

While the lawmakers were optimistic about the bills passing — the House bills are scheduled for a Senate committee hearing on Friday, while the Senate bill passed its first of two committee hearings in the House on Tuesday — they haven’t been uniformly popular. HB2121 and SB2175 have received some opposition by a group called the Hawai‘i Smokers Alliance, which advocates against smoking bans in Hawai‘i.

Michael Zehner, co-chair of the Hawai‘i Smokers Alliance testified on HB2121, calling it a “mean spirited, anti-business mess of a bill” that will destroy local vape retailers.

Meanwhile, a handful of other vape-related bills are still alive in the Legislature, even though they were not discussed at Wednesday’s rally, including HB 1563 and SB 3076.

 would relinquish to the counties the authority to regulate the sale of tobacco products and vapes. This would allow the counties to enact local restrictions on the sale of flavored vape juice — which Jacinto said helps manufacturers target keiki — which the counties of Hawai‘i, Honolulu and Maui have already introduced but cannot actually implement.

 would allow the Attorney General and Department of Taxation to inspect and seize tobacco products including vapes, and that untaxed vapes can be seized as contraband in the same way as untaxed cigarettes.

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<title>Governor and attorney general endorse disposable vape ban</title>

Keiki and lawmakers rallied Wednesday in support of bills cracking down on vape sales.

Governor and attorney general endorse disposable vape ban

Hawai‘i’s energy future is natural gas, claims a $2 billion development proposal by a Japanese energy company.

In October 2025, Gov. Josh Green traveled to Tokyo to sign 

 for the state to partner with JERA Co. Inc. — the largest power generation company in Japan, supplying about one-third of the nation's electricity, according to the Hawai‘i State Energy Office — to help the state meet its clean energy goals.

On Tuesday, Green’s office announced that JERA has submitted 

for how it would modernize O‘ahu’s energy grid, including the construction of a natural gas-fired power plant in Kapolei that would generate about 500 megawatts of power per year.

According to Hawaiian Electric, O‘ahu’s various power plants generate a combined 1,516 megawatts.

JERA has proposed investing — along with “local partners” — $2 billion into a Kapolei plant fed by imported liquefied natural gas, delivered via an undersea pipeline connecting to tankers moored offshore. The facility would connect to the existing O‘ahu power grid, distributing power through most of urban Honolulu.

Such a facility would be necessary for the state to meet its legally mandated energy goals, claims JERA’s proposal. In 2022, the state passed a law requiring that 100% of the state’s net electricity generation come from renewable sources by 2045, and 40% by 2030.

To meet those goals, O‘ahu’s oil power plants must be replaced, but JERA’s proposal states that the growth of renewable energy generation on the island isn’t fast enough to fill the gap left behind by oil plants. But a liquified natural gas plant could fill that gap.

While liquified natural gas is not a renewable fuel, it is less expensive and generates less emissions than petroleum, JERA claims.

If implemented, JERA’s proposal claims that the state could save about $170 million per year compared to the state’s annual oil expenses, while households could save an average of $500 per year.

Furthermore, investments in the plant would not be wasted after 2045, as JERA claims that about 90% of the facility could be repurposed to deliver clean energy: the pipeline could be used to deliver an unspecified “clean fuel,” a floating fuel storage and regasification unit could be used as a “floating gas station” to refuel ships, and the plant itself could be adapted to work with hydrogen, ammonia or other fuel sources with “limited upgrades.”

JERA’s proposal suggests that the plant and most of the necessary infrastructure could be constructed by the end of 2030. During construction, JERA proposes the project could increase the state’s GDP by $150 million per year and create some 1,100 jobs.

Once completed, those benefits shrink, with JERA projecting only an additional $52 million annually to the state GDP and 167 permanent jobs. JERA also estimates that the annual cost of operating the facility would be about $670 million per year.

Green’s announcement comes just three days after the Asia-Pacific Energy Security Forum, where Japan 

 up to $56 billion in energy projects in America, primarily focusing on oil imports and natural gas, liquified and otherwise. JERA was reportedly tied to some of these deals, including a $1.5 billion investment into natural gas production in the southern U.S.

JERA’s Hawai‘i proposal and Green’s announcement Tuesday name Hawai‘i Gas and Pasha Hawai‘i as specific local partners for the project. Hawai‘i Gas CEO Alicia Moy said in a statement that her company supports the expansion of liquified natural gas availability and would develop the pipeline infrastructure necessary to deliver it and other renewable fuels throughout the state.

Green’s own statement on Tuesday touted JERA’s proposal a “transformative overhaul of our electrical grid and a tangible step to move Hawai‘i off its historic dependence on oil.”

Nonetheless, the proposal isn’t a done deal. The state Public Utilities Commission must approve the project, along with several other state and federal agencies, many of which will require public outreach. JERA predicts the permitting phase alone won’t be completed until mid-2028.

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Daily Smile: Thursday, March 19, 2026

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Daily Smile: Thursday, March 19, 2026

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