No, you do not need a California's driver's license to be insured in CA with California insurance on a vehicle. You should be able to register and insure a vehicle in the state of California with your Hawaii driver's license since you are a student and thus would not normally fall into the "resident" category CA has in place.

If after you finished school you decided to stay in California then you would need to change over your HI license for a CA driver's license.

According to the CA Department of Motor Vehicles if you take a job in California or become a resident of the state, you must get a California driver license within 10 days. Residency is established by voting in a California election, paying resident tuition, filing for a homeowner's property tax exemption, or any other privilege or benefit not ordinarily extended to nonresidents.

You can contact the California DMV directly if you have questions regarding how to register a vehicle or general motor vehicle questions. As for insurance, you can get cheap student car insurance information here with us.