New data tool gives side-by-side comparison of House and Senate budget drafts

Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice has announced a major update to its Hawaiʻi Budget webpage, giving advocates, policymakers, and community members a powerful new tool to track the state’s supplemental budget process in real time.

The webpage, which already featured a comprehensive breakdown of the 2025 budget bill (HB300) enacted last year for FY2025–26, now includes a second tab dedicated to tracking and comparing versions of this year’s FY2026–27 supplemental budget bill, HB1800. As the House and Senate each advance their own drafts of the bill, the page breaks down proposed funding amounts by department and program, making it easy to see where the two chambers agree—and where they diverge.

“Budget decisions are value decisions,” said Will White, Executive Director of Hawaiʻi Appleseed. “By making these complex documents accessible and searchable, we’re empowering everyday people to see exactly what their elected officials are prioritizing—and to advocate for a budget that puts working families first.”

The HB1800 tracker allows users to:

• Compare House and Senate funding proposals side-by-side;
• View allocations by individual state departments and specific programs;
• Track changes between the enacted FY2025–26 budget and the proposed FY2026–27 supplemental; and
• Identify where critical investments in housing, food access, health care, and other economic justice priorities stand in real time.

This update is the third in a series of data-forward additions Hawaiʻi Appleseed has made to its website in recent months, reflecting the organization’s commitment to transparency, accessibility, and evidence-based advocacy.

The first was the Economic Justice Data Dashboard, launched earlier this year, which provides a clear, visual snapshot of community well-being metrics—including the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) rate, SNAP participation, cost-burdened renters, and tax credit access—at the state, county, and legislative district levels.

The second is a new Medicaid and SNAP Timeline, which shows how changes to federal policy on those programs will begin to impact the state and when those changes will kick in.

“Effective policymaking should be informed by widely accessible data,” said Devin Thomas, Director of Tax & Budget Policy at Hawaiʻi Appleseed. “Whether we’re tracking federal cuts to Medicaid or comparing the House and Senate budget drafts, our goal is the same: break down the information that people deserve to know so they can strive for a Hawaiʻi where every family has the basic necessities—adequate food, housing, education and health care—they need to thrive.”

The Hawaiʻi Budget webpage is available at https://hiappleseed.org/hibudget. Hawaiʻi Appleseed encourages advocates, community members, and policymakers to use the tool to track HB1800 as it moves through conference committee and to contact their legislators to advocate for a budget that prioritizes working families.