Committee advances bill to expand Maui wildfire exposure study after broad community support

The House Higher Education Committee on Monday advanced SB 2969 SD1, which would appropriate funding to expand and sustain the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study and the Maui Health Registry into the next fiscal year. Chair (name not specified in the transcript) recommended passage with amendments and a defective effective date to allow further drafting.

Researchers and community health providers urged the committee to pass the bill. Ruben Juarez, professor at UHERO and co'director of the Maui West study, told the committee SB 2969 expands the current project to the next fiscal year and clarified it is the companion to an emergency appropriation the committee considered earlier. "This is for expansion of our study to include up to 800 new children," Juarez said, and described the study''s combined research and intervention work.

Veronica Mendoza, founding executive director of Roots Reborn, said her organization sees lasting respiratory and mental health needs among immigrant and uninsured families affected by the 2023 wildfires and recent storms, and argued the screenings produced by the study are both clinical care and an advocacy tool that helps allocate resources to the most impacted residents. "What this program offers, especially for individuals without access to affordable health care, is something they would not otherwise receive," Mendoza said.

Dana Moore of Hawaii Community Health described delivering screenings and training in the burn zone and said the program connects residents to primary and mental health care. "Funding programs already delivering vital services is really critical now, and early screening and proactive intervention saves lives," Moore said.

Multiple other witnesses, including clinicians, university researchers and local coalition leaders, recounted ongoing needs and urged the committee to sustain funding. Dr. Christopher Knightsbridge, who sees patients in Lahaina and works as a researcher with the Maui West study, told members the program also provides on'the'ground intervention and clinical training and that the requested funds will help reach children and families in need.

During committee discussion the chair clarified that the bill under consideration funds work for the next fiscal year (2026'7) and that an earlier measure was the FY25'6 emergency appropriation. The committee adopted the chair'recommended amendments and passed the bill out of committee.

The committee recorded the chair'recommended passage with amendments; the clerk announced the recommendation was adopted. The measure will now proceed with the committee'recommended HD1 language and a defective effective date to allow further consideration in subsequent committees.