STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1770

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: S.B. No. 344

S.D. 1

H.D. 2

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 S.B. No. 344, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HIGHWAY SAFETY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the use of a helmet by anyone under the age of eighteen while riding a skateboard.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu; and one individual.

Your Committee finds that skateboard accidents on roadways and streets can result in serious injury to the skateboard user, including head trauma. Your Committee further finds that from 2009 to 2018, there were an estimated 100,201 emergency room visits nationwide related to trauma to the head and face while skateboarding. Your Committee also finds that according to the National Library of Medicine, wearing a helmet while skateboarding reduces the risk of head injuries by up to eighty-eight percent. This measure increases safety for the State's children and youth by requiring anyone under eighteen years old to wear a helmet.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

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 S.B. No. 344, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 344, S.D. 1, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair