About Senator Hanabusa

Senator Colleen Hanabusa is president of the Hawai'i State Senate and is the first woman to lead either house in the Hawai'i legislature. Senator Hanabusa has dedicated herself to public service as a labor attorney, community organizer, and leader in the Hawai`i State Senate.

In November 1998, in her first run for public office, she was elected to serve the people of the Twenty-First District as their State Senator. Since being elected, Senator Hanabusa has served as the Chair of the Senate Committee on Water, Land; Agriculture; Hawaiian Affairs), Vice-President of State Senate), Vice-Chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means), as Co-Chair of the Joint Senate-House Investigative Committee concerning the Felix Consent Decree and now as Senate President.

Senator Colleen Hanabusa has dedicated herself to public service as a labor attorney, community organizer, and leader in the Hawai`i State Senate. The Hanabusa's have lived in Wai`anae for four generations. Colleen Hanabusa has shown herself to be a trusted leader who is absolutely unafraid to tackle even the most difficult and controversial issues.

Aside from her duties as a State Senator, Senator Hanabusa is a one of Hawai`i's top attorneys with almost 30 years of experience and is a corporate officer in a family-run corporation. Senator Hanabusa has also received a number of accolades in her professional life. She is a Lifetime Member in The National Registry of Who's Who, has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America, Woodward and White, Inc., served as a delegate to the Hawai`i State Judicial Conference, and was noted in Honolulu Magazine's One of Hawai`i's A+ Attorneys in 1993 and continuing to be named on a similar list.

Senator Hanabusa is a 1969 graduate of the St. Andrew's Priory. She received her B.A. in Economics & Sociology in 1973 and her M.A. in Sociology in 1975 from the University of Hawai`i and in 1977 received her J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law.

Leadership Positions
Serving the Leeward Coast as State Senator since 1998
State Senate President-Elect
2007- State Senate Majority Leader
Chair, Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee
Co-chair, Joint Senate House Task Force on Ice and Drug Abatement
Senate's first statewide hearings on Rice v. Cayetano
United States Supreme Court decision Co-Chair, Joint Senate House Investigative Committee: Felix Consent Decree
2001 Vice Chair, Senate Ways and Means Committee
Vice President, State Senate
Chair, Senate Committee on Water, Land, and Hawaiian Affairs

Key Legislation Introduced
3 R's program to repair and maintain our schools
Repeal of the Van Cam Law
Tax credit to enable construction and jobs at Ko Olina
Bill to reform election contributions
Bill to pay the awards of the Individual Rights Panel-DHHL
Bill to require community notice prior to establishing a halfway house
Bill for a comprehensive ceded land inventory Education Initiatives