legislative update 2025

Hawaii has revamped the Midwifery Law to include licensure for certified professional midwives who have obtained their certificate through the portfolio evaluation program (PEP) and has completed a bridge certificate. This is an important step to equity and access to licensure and expands on the already recognized MEAC accredited pathway to a cpm certificate.

The law clearly recognizes native Hawaiian practitioners as exempt and has decriminalized unlicensed birth professionals for practicing within their scope, even if it overlaps with the practice of midwiferY.

A TOWN HALL MEETING WAS HELD OCTOBER 7, 2025 AND INCLUDED THE DIRECTOR OF DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS (DCCA), THE DIRECTOR OF PROFESSIONAL VOCATIONAL LICENSING (PVL), THE DIRECTOR OF REGULATED INDUSTRIES COMPLAINTS OFFICE (RICO), SENATOR KEOHOKALOLE, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS TO HELP CLARIFY THE PROCESS OF REGULATION OF LICENSED MIDWIVES AND OTHERS SERVING THE COMMUNITY IN BIRTHING PRACTICES. YOU CAN SEE THE TOWN HALL MEETING AT THE LINK BELOW.

Midwifery Informational Town Hall Meeting Link

In addition, the lawsuit Kaho’ohanohano Midwifery and Traditional Birthing Practices Litigation has been settled based on the new legislation and the interpretation offered in the town hall meeting (above).

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