AI Laws in City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii
AI Laws USA tracks 16 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii: 10+ federal rules, 4 Hawaii state-level rules, and 2 local City and County of Honolulu ordinances. Coverage is strongest on consumer data privacy, police and surveillance AI, consumer protection, and deepfakes. 4 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
City and County of Honolulu local AI rules
2 local AI rules specific to City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii.
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In effect Strength: limited
Honolulu Police Department Automated License Plate Reader (A
City and County of Honolulu (Honolulu Police Department), HI · Effective June 1, 2025 · Honolulu Police Department Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) Policy
The Honolulu Police Department maintains an official ALPR policy limiting use to law enforcement purposes, requiring a 90-day data purge, FBI-certified offsite storage, logged access, and Chief-of-Police approval for any non-law-enforcement sharing.
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In effect Strength: limited
Resolution to expand surveillance cameras in public parks (o
City and County of Honolulu, HI · Effective June 4, 2025 · Resolution to expand surveillance cameras in public parks (one-year pilot)
The Honolulu City Council approved Resolution 3332 on June 4, 2025 launching a one-year pilot to expand public-park surveillance cameras from about 16 to roughly 45 parks, with 30-day footage retention and a required HPD effectiveness report to the Council.
Hawaii-level AI rules
4 Hawaii state rules apply to residents and businesses in City and County of Honolulu. Sorted strongest first.
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In effect Strength: limited
HI SB 309 (deepfake intimate-image crime)
Hawaii · Effective June 23, 2021 · Haw. SB 309 (2021), Act 59; HRS Sec. 711-1110.9
Hawaii expanded its first-degree violation-of-privacy crime to cover deepfake-style imagery. It is now an offense to intentionally create or disclose a nude or sexually explicit image or video of a 'composite fictitious person' that includes the recognizable features of a real, identifiable individual so that it appears to show that real person, when done with intent to substantially harm them or as revenge. The crime is a class C felony.
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Enacted (not yet in effect) Strength: moderate
Hawaii AI Companion Safety Act (Act 248)
Hawaii · Enacted July 14, 2026 · HI SB 3001 CD1 (2026)
Hawaii enacted a law (Act 248, signed July 14, 2026) requiring AI companion chatbot operators to clearly disclose users are talking to AI, implement self-harm and suicidal-ideation protocols, protect minors from manipulative engagement techniques and sexually explicit content, provide parental tools, and file annual reports with the state Behavioral Health Administration.
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In effect Strength: limited
HI DOI AI Bulletin
HI · Effective December 10, 2025 · Hawaii Insurance Commissioner Memorandum 2025-13A (2025-12-10)
The HI Department of Insurance adopted the NAIC Model Bulletin on Use of Artificial Intelligence Systems by Insurers. Insurers licensed in HI must maintain a written AI program with governance, risk-management, testing, third-party-AI oversight, and documentation controls. The bulletin operationalizes existing unfair-trade-practice and unfair-discrimination law as applied to insurers' AI use cases — underwriting, pricing, claims, fraud detection, and marketing.
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Blocked / in litigation
Hawaii Election Deepfake Law (blocked)
Hawaii · Enacted July 3, 2024 · 2024 HI Sess. Laws Act 191 (SB 2687); D. Haw. permanent injunction Jan. 30, 2026
Hawaii enacted a law in 2024 prohibiting materially deceptive AI-generated media of candidates near elections — but a federal court permanently enjoined it on January 30, 2026, finding it violated the First Amendment. The law remains on the books but is currently unenforceable.
Federal AI rules that apply in City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii
These federal rules apply everywhere in the United States, including City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii. Showing the 10 strongest and most recent.
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In effect Strength: stronger
TVA data center capacity commitment charge (2026)
Tennessee Valley Authority · Effective October 1, 2026 · Tenn. Valley Auth. Bd. of Dirs. — Data Center Capacity Commitment Charge (approved Aug. 20, 2026; eff. Oct. 1, 2026)
The Tennessee Valley Authority's Board of Directors approved a separate, higher wholesale rate for data centers on August 20, 2026, effective October 1. New or expanding data center loads above 5 megawatts now fall under a Capacity Commitment Charge attached to TVA's data center rate schedules, designed to recover the incremental capacity costs those customers impose on the system. The headline figures are substantial: upfront capacity commitment charges of roughly $1.5 million per megawatt, payable over three to five years, and an all-in average billing increase for data center customers of about 10%, phased in across three consecutive fiscal years. The stated purpose is to keep residential rates low while still serving growing data center demand. TVA matters here out of proportion to a single utility. It is a federal corporate agency supplying power across seven states, so this is not a state rate case but a regional cost-allocation decision reaching a large share of the Southeast — and TVA is among the first large US utilities to adopt a tariff aimed specifically at AI-driven load. Where most 2026 measures in this dataset restrict where data centers may be built, this one changes what they pay to run.
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In effect Strength: stronger
Bartz v. Anthropic
N.D. Cal. · Effective September 5, 2025 · Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, No. 3:24-cv-05417 (N.D. Cal.)
Authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson sued Anthropic over its use of pirated-book datasets to train Claude. In June 2025 Judge William Alsup ruled that training on lawfully purchased books was fair use. The piracy claims (LibGen ingestion) proceeded toward settlement; in September 2025 Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion class settlement covering ~500,000 works. Judge Alsup granted preliminary approval September 25, 2025 and final approval July 20, 2026. The appeal period runs through August 19, 2026; class members will not receive payments until at least end of 2026.
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In effect Strength: stronger
COPPA + 2025 Rule (childrens data)
United States · Effective June 23, 2025 · 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501–6506; 16 C.F.R. Part 312
COPPA requires online services aimed at children under 13 to get verifiable parental consent before collecting kids' personal data. The 2025 rule update — fully in effect since April 22, 2026 — adds biometric identifiers (like face templates and voiceprints, which matter for AI tools), requires separate parental consent before sharing children's data for targeted advertising, and tightens data retention limits.
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In effect Strength: stronger
TAKE IT DOWN Act
United States · Effective May 19, 2025 · Pub. L. No. 119-12 (S. 146)
Makes it a federal crime to knowingly publish intimate images of someone without consent, including AI-generated deepfakes. Social media and similar platforms must give victims a way to request removal and must take the content (and known copies) down within 48 hours. The platform removal requirement became enforceable May 19, 2026, and the FTC has already begun enforcement.
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Blocked / in litigation
NetChoice v. Yost (Ohio)
S.D. Ohio · Effective April 16, 2025 · NetChoice, LLC v. Yost, No. 2:24-cv-00047 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 16, 2025)
Ohio's Social Media Parental Notification Act — requiring parental consent for minors' social-media use, including algorithmic feeds — was preliminarily enjoined on February 12, 2024, then permanently enjoined on April 16, 2025 when the district court granted summary judgment for NetChoice. The state appealed to the Sixth Circuit, which vacated the district court's injunction in 2026.
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In effect Strength: stronger
Thaler v. Perlmutter (Copyright)
D.C. Cir. · Effective March 18, 2025 · Thaler v. Perlmutter, 130 F.4th 1039 (D.C. Cir. 2025)
The companion copyright case: Stephen Thaler sought to register a copyright with 'Creativity Machine' (his AI) as the author. The D.C. Circuit affirmed in March 2025 that the Copyright Act's human-authorship requirement is dispositive as a matter of statutory law. AI cannot be a copyright author under U.S. law.
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In effect Strength: stronger
Louis v. SafeRent
D. Mass. · Effective November 20, 2024 · Louis v. SafeRent Solutions, LLC, No. 1:22-cv-10800 (D. Mass.)
SafeRent agreed in November 2024 to a $2.275M settlement and a five-year ban on using its 'SafeRent Score' for housing-voucher applicants, after a class action alleged its AI tenant-screening tool systematically denied housing to Black and Hispanic Section 8 voucher holders. The first major AI tenant-screening Fair Housing Act settlement.
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In effect Strength: stronger
FTC Impersonation Rule (AI)
United States · Effective April 1, 2024 · 16 C.F.R. Part 461; 89 Fed. Reg. 15017
The FTC's Impersonation Rule lets the agency directly sue scammers who pretend to be a government agency or a real business — including those who use AI-cloned voices or generated images to do so. Civil penalties can reach $53,088 per violation. The FTC also issued a supplemental notice in February 2024 proposing to extend the rule to all individual impersonation.
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In effect Strength: stronger
FTC v. Rite Aid
FTC · Effective February 26, 2024 · FTC v. Rite Aid Corp., No. 2:23-cv-05023 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 19, 2023)
The FTC banned Rite Aid from using facial-recognition technology in its stores for five years after finding the pharmacy chain's FRT system falsely tagged customers — disproportionately women and people of color — as shoplifters, leading to wrongful detentions and humiliations.
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In effect Strength: stronger
TCPA (AI voice calls)
United States · Effective February 8, 2024 · 47 U.S.C. § 227; FCC 24-17
Robocalls using AI-cloned or AI-generated voices are treated like other 'artificial voice' calls: callers need your prior express consent, must identify themselves, and must offer opt-outs for telemarketing. You can personally sue violators for $500 to $1,500 per illegal call.
Frequently asked questions about AI laws in City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii
Are there AI laws in City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii?
What federal AI rules apply in City and County of Honolulu?
Does Hawaii have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in Hawaii?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in City and County of Honolulu?
How do I report an AI law violation in City and County of Honolulu?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in City and County of Honolulu?
Is City and County of Honolulu regulated by Hawaii's consumer privacy act?
Have we missed an AI rule in City and County of Honolulu?
This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a City and County of Honolulu ordinance, county rule, or local enforcement action we should add, email feedback@ailawsusa.com or submit a correction. Every entry must include a verifiable source.