House committees pass changes to combat-sports oversight, add medical-safety requirements

The joint committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce and Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs on March 18 passed S.B.148, S.D.2, H.D.1, with amendments that change the effective date for most sections and require clearer medical and safety staffing for combat-sports contests.

The measure, as amended by the committees, renames the oversight body to the Boxing and Combat Sports Commission, clarifies which provisions apply to mixed martial arts (MMA) versus boxing, and inserts medical-coverage requirements for combat-sports contests. The chair recommended that the bill’s effective date be set to July 1, 3000, as a hold for the committee report with a specific immediate effective date of July 1, 2025, for section 14; the committee noted that the defect date should be July 1, 2026, if the measure is amended to give DCCA a year to establish the commission.

Why it matters: supporters and industry witnesses said clearer, sport-specific regulation and explicit medical staffing requirements are intended to improve safety and revive local combat-sports programming, while some members questioned whether added requirements would make small amateur events unaffordable.

During testimony, Paul Carvallo, who identified himself as representing the Big Island combat-sports community, urged separating oversight so “each sport can focus on their own thing” and argued that reestablishing a functioning commission would help keep youth engaged and reduce violence. Carvallo said he has run children’s events for more than 31 years and urged the committee to avoid rules that would stifle small shows. “An ambulance is $2,800 in Hilo to stand by and just sit there,” Carvallo said, adding that volunteer physicians and donated liability insurance have been used to make youth events possible.

James Kizewski, the executive officer for the State Boxing Commission and the MMA program, told members the current practice for MMA events in the state typically includes an ambulance on site and multiple medical staff, and that USA Boxing delegates amateur boxing (which generally requires one physician) to a national body for amateur governance. He said the committee’s amendments were intended to make clear which rules apply to which sport.

Representative Rafael Illegani and Representative Shimizu asked whether added ambulance and physician requirements might raise costs and thereby reduce access for community promoters; witness testimony acknowledged that stricter staffing requirements could increase event costs and that amateur events are frequently run under national amateur organizations that provide insurance and licensure.

The matters decided: the committee adopted the chair’s recommendation to pass S.B.148 with amendments to (1) change the commission name to Boxing and Combat Sports Commission for clarity, (2) adopt DCCA’s safety- and medical-related proposed amendments, (3) delete a special small-contest carve-out so that safety and medical requirements apply uniformly, and (4) include the defective/implementation date language described above. The recommendation was adopted by recorded voice vote; a small number of members registered reservations during the CPC and JHA votes.

What was not decided: members flagged remaining drafting and implementation issues, including whether the final effective-date language should give DCCA 12 months to set up the new commission and how to structure medical staffing requirements for very small amateur shows. Those implementation details were discussed but not changed beyond the committee’s amendments.

Care was taken in the committee record to note both proponents’ concerns about safety and the combat-sports community’s concerns about the cost implications of ambulance and physician requirements. The committee report will summarize the adopted amendments and note the implementation timing issue for DCCA.