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HRS §209-29

Who can get disaster recovery loans

This section says who can get loans after a state disaster. You must have lost or damaged property in the disaster area. For business loans, you must have been running a business before the disaster and show a plan to rebuild it. You also need to show you can pay back the loan.

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The statute, as written — Eligibility for loans

Loans may be made to individuals, partnerships, corporations, cooperatives, or other business associations, but only if the applicant: (1) Suffered loss of or damage to property in a rehabilitation area as a result of a state disaster; (2) For a commercial loan, had operated an industrial, manufacturing, processing, wholesaling, or retailing business, or professional or service business, or building rental business, immediately before the disaster; (3) Presents a suitable program for: (A) Rehabilitation or reestablishment of the applicant's business to its predisaster level when applying for a commercial loan; or (B) Meeting necessary expenses and satisfying the serious needs of the applicant and the applicant's family including reciprocal beneficiary when applying for a personal loan; (4) Has reasonable ability to repay the loan; and (5) For a commercial loan, presents written evidence that the Small Business Administration had declined an application for financial assistance under the Small Business Administration Disaster Loan Program or has reduced the amount of the loan request; provided that the declination was not due to the applicant's having sufficient financial resources to rehabilitate the applicant; or (6) For a commercial loan, cannot secure any loans from the Small Business Administration Disaster Loan Program because the making of the loans is not covered by the program, and the director of business, economic development, and tourism is reasonably satisfied that the applicant is not able to secure loans from private lending institutions and does not have sufficient financial resources to rehabilitate the applicant. Paragraph (6) shall be applied in the alternative with respect to paragraph (5) of this section.
Read the official text at capitol.hawaii.gov ↗as published Jan 6, 2026our copy taken Aug 20, 2026

LawTrove is not legal advice. The summary above is a computer-generated restatement — the authoritative text is the official version linked above.