Yes. CA and Hawaii have the strictest licensing requirements (at least when it comes to Civil).
and he's right about the difficulty of transferring a PE license from another state to CA - CA makes you take one or two extra exams, you can't just apply for a PE license, fill out the paperwork, pay for it, and get one, need to pass those CA-specific exams, I believe related to seismic and surveying activities
Correct
I assume Hawaii has a similar system because of the geology - not many active volcanoes in the states.
Correct. There are also some additional legal statutes due to the history of Hawaii. For example, a non-CA resident can obtain a contractor's license in CA and perform work. In Hawaii, you need to be a resident of Hawaii to apply for a Contractor's License. I can't recall if that is the same for practicing engineering, but it may be.
Some engineering jobs like civil require you to have a PE
This is true.
s a PE you're legally responsible for properly designing the bridge or building, and if it fails due to an improper design they come after your ass personally when the lawsuits start rolling in.
This depends. If you are working for the designer and you personally stamped the drawings? Yes. However, many contracts require the PM and QC manager of the contractor to be licensed PEs as well. However, if the work was installed as per plan, the contractor is typically absolved of any liability (note: GC led design-build contracts have reopened this gray area to a certain degree).