Published July 23, 2026 at 1:20 PM HST

Sen. Karl Rhoads, the longtime chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, confirmed last year that he would not be seeking reelection at the end of his term in 2026.

He'll be honored in October at a gala held by Common Cause Hawaii after 20 years of service at the State Legislature.

His career comprises several key legislative wins, including passing a “red flag” law to reduce gun violence, taxing e-cigarette products, and restricting campaign donations from corporations.

HPR had the chance to visit Rhoads at his office before he bids it goodbye in a few months' time.

SEN. KARL RHOADS: Well, I have to say that the biggest bill, and I think I'll feel this way even 20 years from now if I'm still alive, is this last bill that we passed on artificial entities. It makes it so that corporations, labor unions, limited liability companies cannot spend money on politics as a function, because all these entities are creations of a state, either our state or somewhere else. And basically we say, here's the deal: We'll give you tax benefits, we'll give you eternal life, we'll give you limits on the liability as an investor. And in exchange, here's what you'll be able to do: You won't be able to spend money on politics, but you can do pretty much anything else that you need to do to run your business. And that's the deal. It's a huge bill. It has, I mean, I've worked on a lot of bills that have statewide implications. This has national implications. I'd be surprised if it doesn't end up at the U.S. Supreme Court. ...

Other ones that stick out — the first bill I passed, the first big bill I passed when I first got here, my first year, which was to keep Kukui Gardens affordable for 65 years, $151 million in financing … This was my first year in the Legislature. That was a big win, and I walk by there, I can see the results. It's still affordable, and that was important to me.

RHOADS: You need to do something that's helpful to the district, and some committees are more helpful than others, but you also have to try to work on stuff that you actually care about. It's just easier to work on stuff that you actually care about. You're more engaged. You're more involved. You just care more. And I think a lot of the election stuff, the guns, elections, social issues, issues like same-sex marriage and death with dignity, you know, the stuff that I really cared about.

So I think it turned out sort of the way it was supposed to turn out, even though it didn't turn out exactly the way I thought it was going to turn out. But I mean, if you're ambitious, and I never really was ambitious in that way, then you've got to start thinking about, well, if I want to be president or I want to be speaker, you have to pursue a different course. You have to try to put together a coalition, and there has to be some unhappiness with the current leadership to even really consider it. And then you also have to be willing to be in the wilderness for a while and have no responsibilities and not have committee chairs.

Art at the Capitol

State Sen. Karl Rhoads of Oʻahu shares artwork by Ka-Ning Fong in his office at the Hawaiʻi State Capitol.

RHOADS: I have no plan. My wife is going to step down from her job and take her ERS retirement, same time I do, and the only thing we have planned is a two-month trip across the U.S. into Europe and back. And after that, we really don't have a plan. And I have to say, it feels great. It's like, this is going to be great. We're just going to do whatever we want. Will I get bored eventually? Maybe. If I've gotten bored, then I might get involved in something else. I think it's extremely unlikely I'll ever run for office again. But there's so many boards and commissions and things that you could volunteer your time for if you wanted to. I don't think there's going to be any lack of opportunities.

This story aired on The Conversation on July 23, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.