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HRS §281-58

Who can file a protest against a liquor license

Any person can protest a liquor license application. For applications that must be automatically refused, only certain people can protest: registered voters or property owners within 500 feet of the proposed business. This section only covers who may file a protest, not how to do it.

everyone

The statute, as written — Protests

Protests against the granting of a license may be filed by any person. Protests against the granting of a license upon such application, which qualifies for an automatic refusal pursuant to section 281-39.5 or 281-59, may be so filed by any registered voter for the area within five hundred feet of the nearest point at which the applicant proposes to establish or continue the applicant's business under the license applied for, or by any owner or lessee of record of real estate or by any owner of record of a share in a cooperative apartment situated within a distance of five hundred feet from the nearest point of the premises for which the license is asked to the nearest point of such real estate or cooperative apartment. [L Sp 1933, c 40, §33; RL 1935, §2602; RL 1945, §7254; RL 1955, §159-57; HRS §281-58; am L 1972, c 177, §6; am L 1984, c 123, §2; gen ch 1985; am L 2008, c 168, §14]
Read the official text at capitol.hawaii.gov ↗as published Jan 6, 2026our copy taken Aug 20, 2026

Sections this one refers to

§281-39.5 When a liquor license can be denied near schools

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