REPORT TITLE:


DESCRIPTION:


 
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THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO FIREWORKS



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Chapter 132D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 repealed.
 
 3      SECTION 2.  The Hawaii Revised Statutes is amended by adding
 
 4 a new chapter to be appropriately designed and to read as
 
 5 follows:
 
 6      "§   -1 Title.  This chapter shall be known and may be cited
 
 7 as the "Fireworks Control Law of 1999".
 
 8      §   -2 Definitions.  As used in this chapter unless the
 
 9 context requires otherwise:
 
10      "Aerial fireworks" means fireworks designed primarily to
 
11 produce visible or audible effects by combustion, deflagration,
 
12 or detonation.  This term includes, but is not limited to,
 
13 salutes containing more than 50 mg of explosives, aerial shells
 
14 containing more than 40 grams of pyrotechnic composition,s and
 
15 other display pieces which exceed the limits of explosives for
 
16 classification as "common fireworks".
 
17      "Common fireworks" means fireworks designed to produce
 
18 visible effects by combustion and which must comply with the
 
19 construction, chemical composition, and labeling regulations of
 

 
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 1 the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and deisnged to
 
 2 produce audible effects containing 50 mg or less of explosive
 
 3 materials.
 
 4      "Fireworks" means any combustible or device designed to
 
 5 produce a visible or an audible effect by combustion,
 
 6 deflagration, or detonation, and which meets the definition f
 
 7 aerial fireworks and common fireworks.  The term "fireworks" also
 
 8 shall not include any explosives and pyrotechnics regulated under
 
 9 chapter 396.
 
10      "Office" means the Hawaii State Fire Council.
 
11      "Public display permit" means a nontransferable, formal
 
12 authorization, to ignite and set off aerial fireworks.
 
13      "Religious/Cultural" means that occasion when the use of
 
14 fireworks is a part of an expression of religious/cultural
 
15 freedom, including, but not limited to, funerals, or the
 
16 observance of Ching Ming, Moon Festival Day, Chinese New Year,
 
17 and days dedicated to patron saints and deities.
 
18      "Sales permit" means a nontransferable, formal authorization
 
19 to sell fireworks in the State.
 
20      "Special fireworks permit" means a nontransferable, formal
 
21 authorization, to ignite and set off common fireworks.
 
22      §   -3  General prohibitions.  It shall be unlawful for any
 

 
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 1 person without a permit to:
 
 2      (1)  Remove or extract the pyrotechnic contents from any
 
 3           fireworks:
 
 4      (2)  Throw any ignited fireworks from a moving vehicle; or
 
 5      (3)  Sell, possess, use, ignite, set off, or otherwise cause
 
 6           to explode any fireworks in the State:
 
 7           (A)  Within on thousand fee from any operating
 
 8                hospital, convalescent home, home for the elderly,
 
 9                or animal hospital;
 
10           (B)  In any school building or on any school grounds
 
11                and yards;
 
12           (C)  On any highway, alley, street, sidewalk, or other
 
13                public way; in any park; within fifty feet from a
 
14                canefield; or within one thousand feet from any
 
15                building used for public worship during the
 
16                periods when services are held; and
 
17           (D)  Within five hundred feet from any hotel.
 
18      §   -4  Exceptions.  The prohibitions in section    -3 do
 
19 not apply to the following:
 
20      (1)  An individual or organization has been issued a public
 
21           display permit by the Office for the use of aerial
 
22           fireworks.
 

 
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 1      (2)  An individual or organization has been issued a special
 
 2           fireworks permit to purchase, use, ignite, set off, or
 
 3           otherwise cause to explode fireworks issued by the
 
 4           Office for cultural or religious reasons.
 
 5      §   -5  Permits.  (a)  A permit shall be required for the
 
 6 purchase, setting off, ignition, or discharge of any aerial
 
 7 common fireworks, common fireworks, and non-aerial common
 
 8 fireworks under all circumstances and at any time except that an
 
 9 individual issued a public display permit needs to possess a
 
10 valid certificate of fitness for public display of fireworks at
 
11 the time of the public display permit application.
 
12      (b) The public display permit and the special fireworks
 
13 permit shall be for a specific event, time, and date.  The sales
 
14 permit shall be issued on an annual basis.
 
15      §   -6 Fee.  The fee for a public display permit shall be
 
16 $100, the fee for a special fireworks permit shall be $250, and
 
17 the sales permit shall be $1,000.  Permits shall be issued prior
 
18 to the activity identified in the specific permit.  Checks shall
 
19 be made payable to the Hawaii State Fire Council.
 
20      §   -7 Rules.  The office shall adopt rules pursuant to
 
21 chapter 91 to carry out the purposes of this chapter, including,
 
22 but not limited to different classes of permits for matters
 

 
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 1 concerning aerial common fireworks, common fireworks, fireworks,
 
 2 and non-aerial common fireworks.
 
 3      §   -8 Penalty.  Any person in violation of section    -3
 
 4 shall be guilty of a Class "C" felony."
 
 5      SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.
 
 6      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 7 
 
 8                           INTRODUCED BY: ________________________
 

 
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