I am taking care of my mother in California but homes in Hawaii. What state do I file in?

[maliasone]

Not working

[KrisD15]

Are you a resident of Hawaii and visiting (temporarily in) California? If so, file Hawaii.

If you moved permanently to California (or earned income in California) file California.

[Hal_Al]

If your intent is to return to HI, you fil only an HI resident tax return.  You are temporarily away from home and would only file a non resident CA return, if you earned income there. Even then, HI would give you a credit to any tax paid to CA. 

From the rules:

"A resident is any individual who meets any of the
following:
• Present in California for other than a temporary or
transitory purpose.
https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2015/15_1031.pdf