I saw a questions posted somewhere about finding the history of the laws and since I did some research on this before, I thought I'd share my findings with everyone. 

The first thing you will need to do is look up the law in question. According to the very helpful people at the Public Access Room this is the process:

Here’s an example of what to do: 

Go to the legislature’s website at www.capitol.hawaii.gov and choose “Hawaii Revised Statutes.”  Access the HRS directories using the “browse” button. 

Choose “Volume 2” (Vol02_Ch0046-0115) then “Chapter 46” (HRS0046). 

Go down to the hyperlink for Section 3.5 (HRS_0046-0003_0005.htm) and open that link. 

At the end of the section you’ll see this:  [L 2008, c 228, §1].  That indicates that
· in the year 2008 (don’t ask why ‘year’ is abbreviated ‘L’ – that’s beyond all of us),
· Act 228 (again, it’s a mystery to me why “act” is abbreviated with a “c”),
§  part 1
changed Chapter 46, Section 3.5.  (Actually in this case, the entire section was added, as you’ll see below.)

Next, go to www.capitol.hawaii.gov again and choose “archives,” then the 2008 regular session.  In the 5^th box on that page, you’ll see “List of Acts (by Act number).”  Click on that and scroll down to Act 228.  Just below the number 228 you’ll see “view measure.”  Click on that. 

There you’ll see, in part, this wording:

RELATING TO HISTORIC PRESERVATION.
 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
 
SECTION 1.  Chapter 46, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
 "§46-    Photographs of historic property. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, each county agency that issues building, construction, or development-related permits shall not issue any permit allowing the demolition, construction, or other alteration of a historic building until after a permit applicant provides proof of having provided the department of land and natural resources with archival quality black and white photographs of the historic building, as required under chapter 6E."


If you’re interested in reading related documents such as the committee reports generated as this measure moved from committee to committee, you could access that information by clicking on the “status” link below “view measure.”  You’ll find various hyperlinks at the top of that status (or “history”) page. 

This process will be more or less the one you’d want to use, though please keep in mind that you can only go back as far as 1999 online. 

Finally, you may just want to be in contact with the Legislative Reference Bureau Library, here at the Capitol.  You can contact their excellent staff by phone at 587 0690 or via email at lrb@capitol.hawaii.gov. If you call, as to speak to a researcher.

I hope this is helpful information.

Best wishes.
Suzanne, Public Access Room


Public Access Room (PAR)
A Division of the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB)
Hawaii State Legislature
State Capitol, Room 401
415 S. Beretania St.
Honolulu, Hawaii  96813

Phone: 808/587-0478*
TTY: 808/587-0749
Fax: 808/587-0793
Email: par@capitol.hawaii.gov
Website: http://hawaii.gov/lrb/par

* Toll Free from All Islands
Hawai'i..........974-4000, ext. 7-0478
Maui..............984-2400, ext. 7-0478
Kaua'i............274-3141, ext. 7-0478
Moloka'i/Lana'i...(800) 468-4644, ext. 7-0478
Oahu..............587-0478

The second step would be to actually look up the changes. This will require a bit of legwork as none of this information is available online (except for very recent changes). This is what the Legislative Reference Bureau had to say about that:

Unfortunately, these Acts are not available electronically, these are available in the Session Laws of Hawaii, which can be photocopied. 

Session Laws of Hawaii are also available from the Hawaii State, Supreme Court Law Library,  UH Law library, or our library.  We are located in the State Capitol, room 005, our hours are Monday-Friday, 7:45-4:30.  If you are not on Oahu, the Supreme Court Law Library provides  a document delivery service, http://www.state.hi.us/jud/library/docdel.htm

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Aloha,
Karen Mau
Head Research Librarian
Legislative Reference Bureau
State of Hawaii
State Capitol
415 S. Beretania St., Rm. 005
Honolulu, HI  96813
Phone 808-587-0690
Fax 808-587-0699

Easy right?