What Hawaii law actually says about flags and signs in associations

Nothing. That is the accurate answer, and it is worth stating plainly because incorrect versions circulate.

Chapter 514B, from § 514B-1 to § 514B-191, contains no flag, sign, banner or political-speech provision. Neither does chapter 421J. Language found online purporting to bar associations from fining owners for “house-mounted display of such flags” comes from bills that did not become law — measures from 2011 and 2012. It should not be cited as Hawaii law.

What does apply

The federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 preempts condominium, cooperative and residential real estate management association rules that bar a member from displaying the flag of the United States on residential property within the member’s separate ownership or exclusive-use possession, subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions and other federal law.

That statute covers one flag. It does not reach the Hawaiian flag, a state flag, a sports banner, or a political sign.

Hawaii’s one genuine association-speech provision is § 514B-123(k): “No board shall adopt any rule prohibiting the solicitation of proxies or distribution of materials relating to association matters on the common elements by unit owners; provided that a board may adopt rules regulating reasonable time, place, and manner.” It protects association-governance speech, not expression generally.

The company that provision keeps

Hawaii has legislated a series of narrow overrides of association restrictions, and the pattern shows what a successful bill looks like here:

• § 196-7 — solar energy devices on single-family dwellings and townhouses, with a rule that restrictions may not make a device “more than twenty-five per cent less efficient” or raise installation cost by more than fifteen per cent, and no fees.
• § 196-7.5 — electric vehicle charging systems in multi-family dwellings and townhouses; restrictions may be reasonable but “shall not prohibit the placement or use… altogether.”
• § 196-8.5 — clotheslines, on the same structure.
• § 514B-113 and § 421J-16 — medical cannabis.
• § 421J-17 — personal agriculture in planned communities.
• § 514B-142 — aging in place and disability.
• § 514B-156 — pets.

Every one of them is subject-specific, with a defined permitted-restriction lane. SB 2795 was drafted in exactly that mould — which is part of why its failure looks like a scheduling accident rather than a policy defeat.

Where that leaves a board today

An association’s authority over flags and signs comes from its own documents. House rules under § 514B-104(a)(1), within the limits of § 514B-105(b) and the declaration.

Practical guidance:

• Do not restrict the U.S. flag beyond reasonable time, place and manner — federal law preempts it.
• Recognise that other flags are governed only by your documents, which means the decision is yours and so is the responsibility for it.
• Write the rule content-neutrally if you write one. Size, location, mounting method, number, and condition are administrable. “Which flag” is not, and a rule that permits one flag while barring another is the kind of rule that generates the bill that overrides it.
• Expect this back in 2027. A bill that passes a chamber 25–0 and a committee 6–0 has support; it ran out of calendar in a single committee, twice.

What to watch

Reintroduction in the 2027 session, and whether it is referred to Consumer Protection & Commerce again — which, on this record, is the committee that decides its fate.