Ige signs Juneteenth, financial protection bills

Gov. David Ige signed five bills into law today, including one that widely reforms the state’s payday lending laws.

The five bills were split between two signing ceremonies, one involving a pair of bills commemorating significant days and months, and the other introducing financial protections for vulnerable people.

The bills included:

• Senate Bill 697, which designates each January as Kalaupapa Month, in commemoration of the internment of people suffering from Hansen’s disease — also known as leprosy — in Kalaupapa on Molokai. The month is not to be construed as a state holiday.

• Senate Bill 939, which designates June 19 of each year as Juneteenth, in commemoration of the official end of slavery in the United States on June 19, 1865. Juneteenth is also not to be construed as a state holiday.

• Senate Bill 793, which repeals an exemption to the state’s minimum wage requirements that allowed disabled people to be paid less than minimum wage.

• House Bill 1192, which establishes consumer protections for installment loans and repeals authorization for payday loans.

• House Bill 940, which requires people to notify authorities in suspected cases of financial exploitation of elders and other vulnerable adults.

See Thursday’s issue of the Tribune-Herald for the full story.