HONOLULU — Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Monday proposed a range of new penalties to crack down on those who flout the state’s fireworks laws, nearly two weeks after a fireworks explosion at a Honolulu home on New Year’s Eve killed four people and injured about 20 others.
The potential new measures include $300 tickets police could issue to those who shoot off fireworks and class A felony charges and decades in prison for those whose use of fireworks leads to serious injury or death. The governor plans to include the proposals in a bill he will send lawmakers for the new legislative session beginning Wednesday.
“We want to deter people from doing this. Three hundred dollars will probably send a chilling effect over a lot of young people, I would expect,” Green said at a news conference. “But getting a major felony on one’s record and doing time in jail, I hope will give everyone pause.”
State and county officials have struggled for years to contain illegal fireworks in Hawaii, where it’s become common for people to launch professional-grad aerial explosives from the streets in front of their homes all year round. Law enforcement officers have seized 227,000 pounds (103,000 kilograms) of fireworks since 2023, much of it from container ships at ports, but also from packages shipped by air. The director of the state Department of Law Enforcement said last week that authorities intercept U.S. Postal Service parcels containing illegal fireworks almost daily.
New Year’s is a particularly active time for contraband fireworks displays. They usually result in injuries and in some years people have died, but the start to this year was deadlier than ever.
Green said his proposals were aimed at streamlining and clarifying Hawaii’s fireworks laws so prosecutors can secure convictions more quickly and successfully.
Under the proposal, police issuing $300 citations wouldn’t need to collect evidence. They would just need a witness – a police officer or someone else – to identify the person who set off fireworks, said Tricia Nakamatsu, deputy attorney general. This would be particularly helpful for law enforcement because evidence in fireworks cases often go up in smoke.
The person receiving a ticket would either pay the fine or go to court to contest it, much like a traffic ticket.
This infraction wouldn’t be a crime and so would decriminalize fireworks use at a low level. Crucially, courts would only need a preponderance of evidence to impose a fine. That’s in contrast to a criminal charge which prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt to secure a conviction.
“The citations themselves can also be issued much, much faster. It does not require an officer to go back to the office to write reports, to collect evidence, to submit for testing,” Nakamatsu said. This would help officers get back on the road more quickly, she added.
The governor’s team came up with $300 amount because that’s currently the fine imposed on those who use cell phones while driving. The principle in both cases is similar, she said, in that both actions could kill one or more people.
For the more serious penalties, the governor proposes to slap heavier punishments on repeat offenders and those who cause serious injury or death with their fireworks. This would apply to those who import illegal fireworks, those who buy and sell them and to the end user who lights them.
It’s currently a Class C felony to possess more than 25 pounds of fireworks, which is punishable by up to five years in prison in Hawaii.
The enhanced charges could lead to Class A felony convictions, which under Hawaii law are punishable by up to 20 years to life in prison.
“People, if they take the life of an innocent soul near them, have to be accountable and they’re going to have to spend significant time in prison,” Green said.
The governor said he understands people enjoy the spectacle of fireworks but he said they must be enjoyed in a safe way. He said he would support having more public fireworks displays throughout the year so people can still watch fireworks.
The Department of Law Enforcement last week asked lawmakers for $5.2 million to hire eight people and expand a forensic lab to crack down on fireworks smuggling.