HB1854

SECTION 1. Chapter 281, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part V to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§281- Noise violations; maximum permissible sound level; enforcement; penalty. (a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, noise emitting from an establishment, adjacent outdoor areas under the control of the establishment, including parking lots or lanais, or patrons entering or departing from the establishment shall not exceed the following sound levels:

(1) In areas zoned as conservation, preservation, residential, open, or open space, or designated a similar type of zoning, the maximum sound level shall be:

(A) Fifty-five decibels (dBC) during the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.; and

(B) Forty-five decibels (dBC) during the hours of 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.;

(2) In areas zoned as apartment, business, commercial, hotel, or resort, or designated a similar type of zoning, the maximum sound level shall be:

(A) Sixty decibels (dBC) during the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.; and

(B) Fifty decibels (dBC) during the hours of 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.; and

(3) In areas zoned agriculture, country, or industrial, or designated a similar type of zoning, the maximum sound level shall be seventy decibels (dBC) during all hours of the day.

The maximum permissible sound level for areas that have not been designated a county zoning district shall be the lowest maximum permissible sound level applicable to comparable State land use districts; provided that the maximum permissible sound level for unzoned land within the state urban land use district shall be the sound levels set forth in paragraph (2). In areas with more than one county zoning designation, the lowest applicable maximum permissible sound levels shall apply.

(b) For the purposes of this section, sound level measurement shall be taken within three meters of the perimeter of the exterior of the establishment employing a sound level meter using the "C" weighting network. If the initial sound measurement taken in response to a complaint does not establish a violation, upon the complainant's request, an additional measurement may be taken at the complainant's site where the complainant alleges to have heard noise levels that exceed the maximum permissible sound levels established by this section.

(c) An establishment shall be in violation of this section if the sound level measured pursuant to subsection (b) is more than three decibels (dBC) louder than the ambient noise level for:

(1) Any two-minute segment within a measurement taken for a duration of at least ten minutes; or

(2) Any time segment, within a measurement taken for more than ten minutes, that is at least twenty per cent as long as the total duration of the measurement.

(d) Violations of this section or rules adopted pursuant to this section shall be enforced by summons or citation issued by a law enforcement officer, who shall employ a sound level meter using the "C" weighting network to investigate noise levels. The summons or citation shall:

(1) Be printed in the form described in this subsection, warning the purported violator to appear and answer to the charge against the person at a certain place and at a time within seven days after the issuance of the summons or citation;

(2) Be designed to provide for all necessary information. The form and content of the summons or citation shall be adopted or prescribed by the district environmental courts;

(3) Be given to the purported violator and the other copy or copies distributed in the manner prescribed by the district environmental courts; provided that the district environmental courts may prescribe alternative methods of distribution of the original and any other copies; and

(4) Be consecutively numbered and the carbon copy or copies of each shall bear the same number.

In the event any person fails to comply with a summons or citation issued to the person, the law enforcement officer who issued the summons or citation shall cause a complaint to be entered against the person and secure the issuance of a warrant for the person's arrest. Failure to comply with a summons or citation is a misdemeanor.

(e) Not withstanding any law to the contrary, the commission may revoke or suspend a license, deny the application, renewal, or transfer of a license, or withhold issuance of a license, if the licensee or applicant, as applicable, fails to take corrective action that, to the commission's satisfaction and approval, addresses:

(1) Complaints from the public;

(2) Reports from the commission's investigators;

(3) Summons or citations issued pursuant to this section; or

(4) Adjudications of the commission or the liquor control adjudication board,

indicating that noise emitting from an establishment, adjacent outdoor areas under the control of the establishment, including parking lots or lanais, or patrons entering or departing from the establishment disturbs residents on the street or of the neighborhood in which the establishment is located, the noise exceeds the applicable maximum permissible sound levels set forth in the county's noise codes or commission rules, or intrudes into nearby residential units, or the establishment is in violation of this section.

(f) As used in this section:

"Ambient noise" means the totality of sounds in a given place and time, independent of the sound contribution of any specific source of sound being measured.

"dBC" shall have the same meaning as defined in section 342F-1.

"Decibel" shall have the same meaning as defined in section 342F-1.

"Establishment" means a single physical location where the selling of liquor occurs and for which a license has been or is proposed to be issued, renewed, or transferred pursuant to this chapter."

SECTION 2. Section 281-17, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) The liquor commission, within its own county, shall have the jurisdiction, power, authority, and discretion, subject only to this chapter:

(1) To grant, refuse, suspend, and revoke any license for the manufacture, importation, and sale of liquors;

(2) To take appropriate action against a person who, directly or indirectly, manufactures, sells, or purchases any liquor without being authorized pursuant to this chapter; provided that in counties that have established by charter a liquor control adjudication board, the board shall have the jurisdiction, power, authority, and discretion to hear and determine administrative complaints of the director regarding violations of the liquor laws of the State or of the rules of the liquor commission, and impose penalties for violations thereof as may be provided by law;

(3) To control, supervise, and regulate the manufacture, importation, and sale of liquors by investigation, enforcement, and education; provided that any educational program shall be limited to the commission staff, commissioners, liquor control adjudication board members, and licensees and their employees, and shall be financed through the money collected from the assessment of fines against licensees; provided that fine moneys, not to exceed ten per cent a year of fines accumulated, may be used to fund public liquor-related educational or enforcement programs;

(4) From time to time to make, amend, and repeal rules, not inconsistent with this chapter, as in the judgment of the commission are deemed appropriate for carrying out this chapter and for the efficient administration thereof, and the proper conduct of the business of all licensees, including every matter or thing required to be done or which may be done with the approval or consent, by order, under the direction or supervision of, or as prescribed by the commission; which rules, when adopted as provided in chapter 91 shall have the force and effect of law;

(5) Subject to chapter 76, to appoint and remove an administrator, who may also be appointed an investigator and who shall be responsible for the operations and activities of the staff. The administrator may hire and remove hearing officers, investigators, and clerical or other assistants as its business may from time to time require, prescribe their duties and fix their compensation, and engage the services of experts and persons engaged in the practice of a profession, if deemed expedient. Every investigator, within the scope of the investigator's duties, shall have the powers of a police officer;

(6) To limit the number of licenses of any class or kind within the county, or the number of licenses of any class or kind to do business in any given locality, when in the judgment of the commission such limitations are in the public interest;

(7) To prescribe the nature of the proof to be furnished, the notices to be given, and the conditions to be met or observed in case of the issuance of a duplicate license in place of one alleged to have been lost or destroyed, including a requirement of any indemnity deemed appropriate to the case;

(8) To fix the hours between which licensed premises of any class or classes may regularly be open for the transaction of business, which shall be uniform throughout the county as to each class respectively;

(9) To prescribe all forms to be used for the purposes of this chapter not otherwise provided for in this chapter, and the character and manner of keeping of books, records, and accounts to be kept by licensees in any matter pertaining to their business;

(10) To investigate violations of this chapter, chapter 244D and, notwithstanding any to the contrary, violations of the applicable [~~department of health's allowable noise levels,~~] maximum permissible sound levels provided in this chapter, through its investigators or otherwise, to include covert operations, and to report violations to the prosecuting officer for prosecution and, where appropriate, the director of taxation to hear and determine complaints against any licensee; provided that violations of maximum permissible sound levels provided in this chapter shall be enforced by issuance of summons or citations by law enforcement officers;

(11) To prescribe, by rule, the terms, conditions, and circumstances under which persons or any class of persons may be employed by holders of licenses;

(12) To prescribe, by rule, the term of any license or solicitor's and representative's permit authorized by this chapter, the annual or prorated amount, the manner of payment of fees for the licenses and permits, and the amount of filing fees;

(13) To prescribe, by rule, regulations on dancing in licensed premises; [~~and~~]

(14) To prescribe, by rule, the circumstances and penalty for the unauthorized manufacturing or selling of any liquor[.]; and

(15) To prescribe, by rule, the circumstances and penalty for violation of maximum permissible sound levels pursuant to section 281- ."

SECTION 3. Section 281-51, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§281-51 Prior inspection. No license shall be issued under this chapter unless and until the liquor commission has caused to be made a thorough inspection of the premises upon which the proposed business is to be conducted and is satisfied as to its fitness and that all other general conditions and proposed methods of operation under the license are such as are suitable for carrying on the business in a reputable way. "In a reputable way" includes among other considerations operating in such a manner that activities within the premises or in such adjacent related outdoor areas such as parking lots or lanais will not create noise in excess of standards contained in section 281- , state or county noise or vibration codes, or rules adopted by the liquor commissions, which intrudes into nearby residential units."

SECTION 4. Section 281-61, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"§281-61 Renewals. (a) Other than for good cause, the renewal of an existing license shall be granted upon the filing of an application; provided that if:

(1) Complaints from the public;

(2) Reports from the commission's investigators; [or]

(3) Summons or citations issued pursuant to section 281‑ ; or

(4) Adjudications of the commission or the liquor control adjudication board,

indicate that noise [~~created by~~] emitting from the premises, adjacent outdoor areas under the control of the licensee, including parking lots or lanais, or patrons entering or departing from the premises disturbs residents on the street or of the neighborhood in which the premises are located, [~~or that~~] the noise [~~from the premises or adjacent related outdoor areas such as parking lots or lanais exceed standards contained in state or~~] exceeds the applicable maximum permissible sound levels set forth in the county noise codes or commission rules, or intrudes into nearby residential units, or the licensee is in violation of section 281- , the commission may deny the renewal application or withhold the issuance of a renewed license until corrective measures meeting the commission's approval are taken."

SECTION 5. Section 342F-31.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§342F-31.5[]] Noise measurement; rules. (a) The department shall adopt rules in accordance with chapter 91 that shall use both the dBC and the dBA sound level measurement systems for community noise control. The department [~~and the~~], county liquor commissions, and law enforcement officers, pursuant to section 281- , may enforce nighttime noise levels in any urban land use district measured from over fifty to sixty decibels, measured using the dBC weighting system, in certain areas they deem appropriate and not adversely affecting public health and safety.

(b) In any urban land use district, a sound level of more than [~~sixty~~] fifty decibels for bass sound (using the dBC weighting system), measured at a complainant's site, shall be deemed to exceed the maximum permissible sound at nighttime[~~; provided that, where the complainant's site is within or in close proximity to an area zoned mixed-use or residential, the maximum permissible sound at nighttime shall be fifty decibels dBC~~].

"Nighttime" means the time between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.; and

"Urban land use district" means property designated as such pursuant to section 205-2."

SECTION 6. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1854
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII