This page contains a listing of the members of the Hawaiʻi State Senate by seniority, as of January 20, 2021 (opening day of the 31st Legislature).
Left: Photo of Senate Chamber by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ben A. Gonzales
On April 27, 2021, Senator J. Kalani English, who was tied with Senator Donna Mercado Kim for the third-most senior member of the Hawaiʻi State Senate, announced that he would resign his seat as of May 1, 2021.
Caveats
Please note the following caveats before looking at the table:
- Unlike in the United States Senate, seniority in the Hawaii State Legislature generally does not confer benefits in committee assignments, office space, etc. The table below contains a listing of leadership and committee chair positions of the members; you’ll note that almost every Senator has at least one leadership title or chairs one committee, and that these titles are not necessarily related to seniority. Note that two senators became chairs of committees immediately after their election in 2020, despite not having any seniority at all (though it should be noted that the two members did have prior service in the House of Representatives).
- Rule 5 of the Rules of the Senate provide that “[i]n case the President and Vice-President shall be absent at the hour to which the Senate had adjourned, the member of the majority party having the longest tenure in the Senate shall preside until a President pro tempore is chosen. If two or more members are equally qualified to preside, the eldest qualified member shall preside.” In practice, this basically never happens, but in the case that it does during the 31st Legislature, the member who would preside until a President pro tem is chosen would likely be Senator Les Ihara.
- Though we’ve included a list of leadership and chair titles in the table, please note that these titles do not necessarily equate to power or influence. Some titles and chairships are definitely influential — for example, no one will doubt that the titles of Senate President or Chair of the Committee on Ways and Means have immense amounts of power. However, other titles are merely titular and don’t confer little, if any, actual authority. In other cases, a legislator might not have a specific title but may be very influential behind the scenes.
- Except for the Vice Chair of the Committee on Ways and Means, we did not include vice chairs in the list so as to not make the list too unwieldy. The Vice Chair of the Ways and Means Committee is included because the position is generally in charge of managing capital improvement project funds in the state budget and thus is pretty powerful.
- Note on term dates: Article III, section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution provides that the term of each legislative member “shall begin on the day of the general election at which elected or if elected at a primary election, on the day of the general election immediately following the primary election at which elected.” Hence, most members’ term dates are listed as being on the date of the general election in the year they were first elected. For members who were appointed to their positions by the Governor, we’ve listed the date on which the Governor was reported to have made the appointment. In case of ties, we’ve just randomized the listing of names except that we’ve noted the prior House tenures of Senators Taniguchi and Ihara as the two most senior members of the Senate.
- Italics signifies member of the minority party.
Seniority table – 2021 Hawaiʻi State Senate
| Rank | Name | District | Term Began | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Taniguchi, Brian T. | 24 | 11-8-1994 | Prior House 1981-1994 Assistant Majority Whip Chair, Labor, Culture and the Arts |
| T1 | Ihara, Les Jr. | 8 | 11-8-1994 | Prior House 1987-1994 Majority Policy Leader |
| T3 | English, Jr. Kalani | 5 | 11-7-2000 | Majority Leader |
| T3 | Kim, Donna Mercado | 14 | 11-7-2000 | Chair, Higher Education |
| 5 | Baker, Rosalyn H. | 2 | 11-5-2002 | Chair, Commerce and Consumer Protection |
| 6 | Nishihara, Clarence K. | 19 | 11-2-2004 | Assistant Majority Whip Chair, Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs |
| 7 | Gabbard, Mike | 7 | 11-7-2006 | Chair, Agriculture and Environment |
| 8 | Kidani, Michelle N. | 13 | 11-4-2008 | Vice President Chair, Education |
| 9 | Kouchi, Ronald D. | 15 | 9-7-2010 | President |
| T10 | Dela Cruz, Donovan M. | 4 | 11-2-2010 | Chair, Ways and Means |
| T10 | Wakai, Glenn | 25 | 11-2-2010 | Chair, Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism |
| 12 | Shimabukuro, Maile S.L. | 23 | 12-21-2010 | Chair, Hawaiian Affairs |
| 13 | Keith-Agaran, Gilbert | 11 | 1-7-2013 | Assistant Majority Whip Vice Chair, Ways and Means |
| T14 | Inouye, Lorraine R. | 9 | 11-4-2014 | Majority Whip Chair, Water and Land |
| T14 | Riviere, Gil | 21 | 11-4-2014 | |
| T16 | Chang, Stanley | 3 | 11-8-2016 | Chair, Housing |
| T16 | Rhoads, Karl | 20 | 11-8-2016 | Chair, Judiciary |
| T16 | Fevella, Kurt | 6 | 11-6-2018 | Minority Leader/ Minority Floor Leader |
| T16 | Kanuha, Dru Mamo | 10 | 11-6-2018 | Majority Caucus Leader |
| T16 | Keohokalole, Jarrett | 12 | 11-6-2018 | Majority Floor Leader Chair, Health |
| T16 | Moriwaki, Sharon Y. | 18 | 11-6-2018 | Chair, Government Operations |
| 22 | Misalucha, Bennette E. | 17 | 7-9-2020 | |
| T23 | Lee, Chris | 16 | 11-3-2020 | Chair, Transportation |
| T23 | San Buenaventura, Joy A. | 22 | 11-3-2020 | Chair, Human Services |
| 25 | Acasio, Laura | 1 | 1-19-2021 |
Statistics (as of January 20, 2021)
- Average tenure: 9.12 years
- Median tenure: 8 years