STAND. COM. REP. NO. 239

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1226

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 Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1226 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREWORKS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish the Shipping Container Inspection Program;

(2) Require the Department of Law Enforcement to submit reports to the Legislature on implementation of the Shipping Container Inspection Program; and

(3) Appropriate funds.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiian Humane Society and eighteen individuals.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Libertarian Party of Hawaii, Hawaiʻi Harbors Users Group, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, and two individuals.

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

Your Committees find that many of the State's residents do not support illegal firework usage in their neighborhoods. Every year, hundreds of thousands of residents are traumatized in their homes, along with their pets, by excessive noise, smoke, and airborne debris, often for multiple days during the month of December. Your Committees acknowledge the complex issue of illegal firework enforcement, but believes that it is important to safeguard the health and safety of those in Hawaii. To address the dangerous impact that illegal fireworks have on local communities, this measure will establish a Shipping Container Inspection Program, to provide proper support for law enforcement to detect, store, and dispose of illegal fireworks.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that the Department of Law Enforcement may conduct risk-based inspections in addition to random inspections;

(2) Deleting references to "explosives" in the Shipping Container Inspection Program;

(3) Amending the start date of the Program to be no later than July 1, 2027, but as soon as is practical;

(4) Tasking the Department of Law Enforcement and Department of Transportation to designate a secure site, outside the immediate port area to conduct inspections;

(5) Clarifying that the Department of Law Enforcement is responsible for securing any illegal goods recovered under the inspection program;

(6) Granting employees of the Department of Transportation and Department of Law Enforcement qualified immunity if damages occur in the performance of their duties;

(7) Specifying that except for any illegal commodities, any damages to container goods shall be borne by the State;

(8) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(9) 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 Transportation and Culture and the Arts 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. 1226, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1226, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Public Safety and Military Affairs,

________________________________ BRANDON J.C. ELEFANTE, Chair

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair