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 committee report will clarify that the change does not prohibit life sentences with parole or lengthy minimum terms for defendants aged 18–20.

- HB 132: Expand AG pilot expungement project to include Schedule V possession. Sonny Gannigan, Deputy Public Defender, described recent expungement clinics: “We processed a 19 cases, worked with 80 individuals regarding prospective expungement, submitted 72,” and recounted similar work in Waimanalo where the team processed 42 individuals and submitted 41 for expungement. The committee voted to pass HB 132 unamended.

- HB 145: Authorize the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center to transmit expungement orders to the judiciary. Phil Higdon, administrator of the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, and Michelle Acosta, representing the judiciary, testified in support. Acosta said the judiciary is researching a technical approach to limit searches that would expose records in multi-defendant cases but that a solution for multiple counts for a single defendant would likely require a major case-management overhaul and that time and cost estimates were not yet available. The committee approved the measure and requested committee-report language noting the judiciary’s ongoing technical work.

- HB 111: Civil claims for profiting from sexual exploitation/trafficking. The committee deferred HB 111 for further questions; the hearing record shows the item was postponed to a later date (March 18 at 10:00 a.m. was specified in the transcript).

- HB 369: Campaign contribution housekeeping. Kristin Izumi Natal, executive director of the Campaign Spending Commission, said the bill is a housekeeping measure requiring that certain excess cash contributions that are not returned become state campaign-fund receipts. The committee voted to pass the measure; the transcript notes one no vote by Senator Awa.

- HB 408: Align voter-by-mail registration deadline from 30 to 10 days prior to an election. Scott Nago of the Office of Elections said the bill harmonizes statutory language. The committee passed the bill; the transcript records one no vote by Senator Waddell.

- HB 1001: Maui wildfire settlement trust fund and appropriations. Deputy Attorney General Ian Robertson (standing in) summarized the department’s written support and suggested figures for appropriation blanks. The committee voted to pass the measure with amendments that include updates to the preamble referencing the Supreme Court coordination decision and other technical revisions.

- HB 1175: Tax appeal filing deadlines. Tom Yamachika of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii said the bill resolves a procedural trap for appeals from the tax appeal court. The committee passed the bill as is.

- HB 386: Fentanyl possession threshold. Law-enforcement and prosecutors testified in support. The committee passed HB 386 as is.

- HB 134: Electronic filing of nomination papers. Scott Nago and others testified on electronic filing and fees. Brett Colbas, a resident of Ewa Beach, opposed the bill citing security and verification concerns: “While I understand the intent to modernize the nomination process, I have serious concerns about the security and integrity of an electronic filing system.” The committee approved HB 134 with amendments clarifying that electronic filing would not impose an additional statutory filing charge beyond existing fees.

Votes at a glance

- HB 103: Pass with amendments (new chapter 706); transcript includes several recorded yea votes and one recorded no vote; committee report language planned to clarify scope. - HB 111: Deferred to March 18 for additional review. - HB 132 (HD1): Passed unamended. - HB 145 (HD1): Passed (committee report to note judiciary technical work). - HB 369: Passed as is (transcript records one no vote by Senator Awa). - HB 408: Passed unamended (transcript records one no vote by Senator Waddell). - HB 1001 (HT1): Passed with amendments (preamble and technical changes). - HB 1175: Passed unamended. - HB 386: Passed as is. - HB 134 (HD1): Passed with amendments clarifying that no additional charge will be assessed for electronic filing.

What committee members asked for next

Committee members repeatedly asked agencies to provide technical cost and timeline estimates (notably the judiciary’s work on handling multi-defendant or multi-count expungement cases) and asked the Department of the Attorney General, judiciary and data center to coordinate on implementation language and committee-report clarifications.

Ending

The committee completed its agenda and adjourned after taking the votes and noting items to be revisited for technical follow-up and for the one deferred bill. A number of bills that passed will require interagency work and possible IT or policy changes before they take effect.