LPHI Adopts New Bylaws and a New Platform at the 2026 Special Convention
On September 12, 2026, the Libertarian Party of Hawaii adopted a complete revision of its bylaws and a new party platform at a special convention held in Hilo, Hawaii. The bylaws passed 11 to 1 with one abstention, above the 10 votes needed for two-thirds. The platform passed unanimously.
This win came after much effort. At the 2023 State Convention, the outgoing Executive Committee asked the party to “fix the bylaws”. When the proposed revisions reached the floor of the 2025 State Convention on August 30, the body postponed both the bylaws and the platform and called a special convention to take them up again. The Bylaws & Platform Committee kept working through the rest of 2025 and into 2026, held its meetings on video so members could follow along, and delivered its final reports to the Executive Committee on July 20, 2026.
Fourteen credentialed members took up the reports in the Mokuʻola room at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. The convention opened at 11:21 a.m. and adjourned sine die at about 2:25 p.m. The bylaws passed before lunch and the platform passed after it.
Watch the Special Convention
The New Bylaws
Read the full text on our Bylaws page.
The largest structural change is the creation of a State Committee. The Executive Committee is now the four elected officers, and the State Committee adds county chairs and, when needed to keep the total odd, one at-large member. That structure supports a new article on county affiliates which sets the requirements for recognition, requires financial reporting to the State Treasurer, and gives affiliates written notice and at least 30 days to fix a deficiency before any disaffiliation vote. The bylaws also now cover special conventions and allow in-person, electronic, or hybrid meetings.
Membership and discipline now follow defined rules. Members join at the Sustaining or Lifetime level and affirm the non-aggression principle. An anti-infiltration policy lets the party defend itself against coordinated efforts to undermine it, and no adverse action can be taken without notice, a chance to respond, and a recorded vote. Discipline starts with a good-faith attempt at resolution and moves to written notice and a hearing where the accused may present evidence and bring counsel. Any penalty needs two-thirds of the entire State Committee. Emergency suspensions lapse after 30 days without a hearing, and members may appeal. Future amendments require 60 days of notice and a two-thirds vote.
The New Platform
Read the full text on our Platform page.
The convention adopted the new platform as a complete substitute for the 2015 platform. The old document had seven planks. The new one has thirteen, and it restates the party's philosophical foundation more clearly around the non-aggression principle and self-ownership. Every subject from 2015 carries forward, with some consolidated where they overlapped.
The platform adds new planks on freedom of speech, privacy rights, the right to self-defense, medical freedom, parental rights and educational choice, community autonomy, environmental policy, and foreign entanglements. It draws on Hawaii's own history, including mālama ʻāina in the environmental plank and respect for traditional Hawaiian medicine. The omissions clause remains, so silence on an issue is never read as approval.
Mahalo
Thank you to the members of the Bylaws & Platform Committee: Austin Martin, Nicholas Zehr, Abbra Green, Ken Schoolland, and Bryce Thon, with Silas Martin assisting on formatting the final reports. Thank you also to every member who sent feedback on the drafts and to everyone who made the trip to Hilo.
We also thank Don Johnston, a member of the party since the mid-1970s, who sponsored a major portion of the day's proceedings.
The new bylaws took effect when the convention adjourned, and were sent promptly to the Hawaii Office of Elections.
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