HB 1895 Summary

• Establishes a comprehensive Hawaii Cooperative Law by adding a new chapter to Hawaii Revised Statutes, allowing agricultural entities and workers to incorporate as cooperatives with limited liability for members.

• Creates framework for agricultural cooperatives, worker cooperatives (including capital account and collective board types), and renewable energy cooperatives with provisions for patronage-based distributions and member voting rights.

• Requires annual reporting to the director of commerce and consumer affairs including financial statements, member information, and business operations details on a quarterly schedule based on registration date.

• Permits worker cooperatives to establish indivisible reserve accounts funded from non-patronage income and to distribute unallocated capital upon dissolution based on patronage, capital contributions, or a combination thereof.

• Applies existing Hawaii corporation law (chapters 414, 414D, or 420D) to matters not addressed in the cooperative law, and exempts cooperative securities from securities laws under chapter 485A.