Senate Judiciary Committee advances package of bills; raises minimum age for life-without-parole to 21

The Senate Committee on Judiciary on Tuesday advanced a set of bills covering criminal sentencing, expungement procedures, election administration and campaign finance, and Maui wildfire settlements.

The committee voted to prohibit life-without-parole sentences for people younger than 21 by creating a new statute in chapter 706 and passed the measure with amendments. Committee members also approved bills to expand a state-initiated expungement pilot to include Schedule V possession, to allow the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center to transmit expungement orders to the judiciary, to clarify campaign-contribution handling, to align voting-by-mail deadlines, and to create a Maui wildfire settlement trust fund with appropriations.

Why it matters: the bills affect sentencing for young adults, the mechanics of expunging arrest records, and election procedures used statewide. Several measures also change administrative flows between state agencies—actions the committee said will require technical follow-up to implement.

Key decisions and context

- HB 103: Change minimum age for life-without-parole to 21. The committee recommended creating a new statute in chapter 706 to bar life-without-parole sentences for people under 21 and to delete proposed amendments that would have altered multiple specific sentencing provisions. Chair Rhodes advanced the recommendation to pass with amendments; roll-call acknowledgements in the hearing transcript include Chair Rhodes (aye), Senator Chang (aye), Senator San Buenaventura (aye) and Senator Awa (no). The committee chair said the…