STAND. COM. REP. NO.  804

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2025

 

RE:   H.B. No. 386

 

 

 

 

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

 

Madame:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 386 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DANGEROUS DRUGS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to conform fentanyl to the possession offense thresholds for methamphetamine, heroin, morphine, and cocaine.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Police Department; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu; and Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Hawaiʻi.

 

     Your Committee finds that in recent years, fentanyl has emerged as a serious public health threat and law enforcement challenge.  In 2022, synthetic opioids, primarily illicit fentanyl, represented more than two-thirds of drug overdose deaths nationwide.  The State has not been immune to this threat as there have been incidents throughout the State, including:  the seizure of enough fentanyl in Hawaii County in 2024 to kill one-fifth of the State's population; the conviction of a Maui person for selling fentanyl-laced pills that caused an overdose death; and first responders being dispatched to Thomas Square on Oahu five times in one month for reported fentanyl overdoses.  This measure conforms the criminal penalties for possession of fentanyl to that of other common street drugs, such as methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 386 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair