STAND. COM. REP. NO. 456

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1022

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1022 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMAL ENDANGERMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Prohibit intentionally leaving or confining pet animals in a vehicle under conditions that endanger their health, safety, or well-being;

(2) Allow law enforcement officers, animal control officers, and firefighters to enter an unattended vehicle to protect the health, safety, or well-being of a pet animal that is endangered by being left or confined in an unattended vehicle; and

(3) Allow private citizens to rescue a pet animal that has been left in an unattended vehicle under certain circumstances.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Humane Society of the United States, Animal Rights Hawaiʻi, Animal Legal Defense Fund, and five individuals.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Honolulu Police Department and one individual.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committees find that pet animals who are left unattended in cars during severe heat events can experience extreme suffering and even death. Therefore, this measure mitigates unnecessary stress and physical injuries inflicted on pet animals while ensuring protections for good Samaritans who assist in the rescue of pet animals.

Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Public Safety and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1022, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1022, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Public Safety and Military Affairs,

________________________________ BRANDON J.C. ELEFANTE, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair