Hawaiʻi lawmakers are considering co-op friendly laws and state funding aimed at keeping more jobs, food spending and energy dollars circulating locally. Supporters say updated statutes and grants could ease legal barriers, support worker buyouts and expand farmer-owned supply chains across the islands.
Keoni DeFranco, Kelly Teamey, Noa Kekuewa Lincoln and Dana Shapiro argued that cooperative ownership keeps wealth in local communities and strengthens food, energy and housing systems. They also pointed to a Hawaiʻi-wide Co-op Hui in Hilo last May with more than 65 co-ops and organizers that helped shape this year’s policy push, according to Honolulu Civil Beat.
What the bills would do
Several measures now on the table aim to clear legal roadblocks and offer practical start-up support. Senate Bill 2922 and House Bill 2404 would create a General Cooperative Associations Act, a single legal home that would let worker, producer, consumer and multi-stakeholder co-ops incorporate under one modern framework. A companion measure, Senate Bill 2716, would establish a Cooperative Development Program within the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, providing cost-share grants and technical assistance to emerging and expanding co-ops, according to LegiScan.
Co-ops are already working in Hawaiʻi
State data show that cooperative finance is already woven into daily life. The Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism has noted that Hawaiʻi had 47 federally insured credit unions serving about 869,628 members and holding roughly $15.2 billion in assets, a sizable cooperative footprint for a relatively small state, according to DBEDT. On the utility side, the Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative led the state in renewable generation in 2023 at about 57.9% and reported some of the lowest residential rates in the islands, a result advocates say highlights the local benefits of member-owned power, as reported by Hawaiʻi Public Radio.
Supporters also point to food system examples such as the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative, a multi-island network of grower-members that the essay’s authors say now includes more than 200 farmers and works with the Department of Education to bring locally grown ʻulu and kalo into schools. They argue that projects like this are exactly the kind of community-scale enterprises these bills are designed to strengthen, according to DBEDT.
How big a difference could this make?
Advocates lean on national numbers to make their case. Cooperative enterprises already account for a significant slice of the U.S. economy, with more than 65,000 co-ops serving over 120 million members and generating roughly $650 billion in annual revenue, according to Congress.gov. They also cite national success stories. Organic Valley, a farmer-owned cooperative that lists roughly 1,600 family farms as members, reports annual revenues around $1.2 billion, a scale that supporters say shows how pooled farmer ownership can grow big without pushing farmers to the margins of the business, according to Organic Valley.
From here, the path is classic Capitol routine and raw politics. The measures are still in the early phase of the 2026 legislative session and will need to clear committee hearings, survive budget negotiations and absorb plenty of stakeholder testimony before any of them reach the governor’s desk. If lawmakers ultimately back the core ideas, a unified cooperative statute and a DBEDT development program, advocates say Hawaiʻi could see a smoother route for worker ownership conversions, community food aggregation hubs, and utility and housing projects that keep local control at the center.
