The House Committee on Transportation voted to pass SB 2308 SD1 with amendments on March 14, changing mandatory enhanced fines for speeding in school zones to permissive language to allow judges discretion at sentencing.

The measure drew support from the Department of Transportation and the Hawaii State Department of Education while the Office of the Public Defender opposed mandatory penalties. Ben Lowenthal of the Public Defender’s Office argued that mandatory fines can increase court debt for vulnerable people and may not demonstrably reduce speeding; he recommended preserving judicial discretion. Chair Todd said the committee would amend the bill to make the new fines permissive, saying judiciary could later examine whether to revert to mandatory language.

Public testimony included concerns about e‑bike speeders in school areas from Carrie Swan, who urged addressing e‑bikes in a future measure.

The committee adopted the chair’s amendments, set a defective/placeholder effective date of 07/01/3000, and passed SB 2308 SD1 with the permissive penalty language.

Ending: The committee passed the bill with amendments making enhanced school‑zone penalties discretionary for judges, and recorded the measure as adopted in committee.