Hawaii
Does Hawaii Have an Age Verification Law? (2026 Update)
As of August 2026, Hawaii has not enacted a law requiring adult websites to verify a visitor's age. A bill that would have created one, House Bill 1212, was carried over into a second legislative session but never received a floor vote in either year.
Has Hawaii Considered an Age-Verification Law?
Hawaii's House Bill 1212 came closer than a typical first-session bill to becoming law, without ever getting a floor vote. It was introduced January 23, 2025, referred to committee January 27, 2025, and then carried over to the 2026 Regular Session on December 8, 2025, a procedural step Hawaii allows for bills that do not finish in their first year. No further floor action was recorded, and the bill died when the 2026 session adjourned on May 8, 2026.
HB 1212 would have required a commercial entity that knowingly publishes pornographic material on a Hawaii-accessible website to use a reasonable age-verification method before granting access, and would have prohibited the verifier from retaining any identifying information collected in the process. It exempted news media organizations and pass-through internet service providers. On paper, the penalties were substantial: up to $10,000 per day of noncompliance, an additional $10,000 for each instance of improper data retention, and up to $250,000 if a minor actually accessed content as a result of inadequate verification.
Hawaii split its proposal into two companion bills so the verification requirement and the penalty provisions could be voted on separately: HB 1212 for the requirement itself, and HB 1198 for the penalties. HB 1198 was also carried over to the 2026 session on December 8, 2025. Per a national legislative tracker, HB 1198 appears to have died alongside HB 1212 at the 2026 session's adjournment; this research was not able to independently confirm that specific final action against Hawaii's own legislative records, so it is reported here rather than stated as fully confirmed.
Where This Leaves Hawaii Residents
No federal law requires adult websites to verify a visitor's age. The Supreme Court's 2025 decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton confirmed that a state may enact this kind of requirement and survive a First Amendment challenge, but it leaves the choice to each state, and Hawaii has not yet made that choice.
Because Hawaii has no enacted statute, mainstream adult websites generally do not geo-block Hawaii visitors the way some have blocked residents of Texas, Louisiana, Utah, and other states with an enacted requirement.
Related Resources
- Age Verification Laws by State
- Texas Age Verification Law
- KOSA and COPPA 2.0: The Federal Age-Verification Landscape
Last updated: 2026-08-13.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Hawaii require age verification to view adult content?
No. Hawaii has not enacted an age-verification law for adult websites. House Bill 1212 would have created one but died at the end of the 2026 session without a floor vote.
What would House Bill 1212 have required?
A commercial entity that knowingly publishes pornographic material on a Hawaii-accessible website would have had to use a reasonable age-verification method and would have been barred from retaining identifying information collected in the process.
Why did House Bill 1212 fail despite being carried over to a second session?
Being carried over let the bill remain alive without being reintroduced, but it never received a floor vote in either the 2025 or 2026 session, and it died automatically when the 2026 session adjourned.
What was House Bill 1198?
Hawaii split its age-verification proposal into two companion bills: House Bill 1212 for the verification requirement, and House Bill 1198 for the penalty provisions. Both were carried over to 2026 and, per a national tracker, appear to have died together.
Could Hawaii pass an age-verification law in the future?
It is possible. Sponsors could refile House Bill 1212 or a similar measure when the 34th Legislature convenes in January 2027, but no bill was pending as of this writing.
Updates
Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources
Sources and References
- Hawaii H.B. 1212 (2025-2026), Bill Tracking Detail(billtrack50.com)
- Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton, 606 U.S. 461 (2025), Opinion of the Court(supremecourt.gov).gov
- Hawaii age-verification bill tracker, censorshiptracker.com(censorshiptracker.com)