Joint Senate committees approve broad package of bills; one recommendation fails and one item deferred

The Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection and the Senate Committee on Judiciary met in a joint decision-making session on Friday, Feb. 21, and recommended passage — often with technical or effective-date amendments — of a broad package of measures that had been previously heard in subject-matter committees.

The package included consumer protection, licensing, housing, criminal justice and administrative-government bills. Chair Rhodes and acting vice chair Senator Chang led the session; senators took recorded voice votes or adopted recommendations by unanimous or near-unanimous consent for most measures. Several bills were amended to add technical language or to set a deferred effective date of July 1, 2050, and one recommendation (SB 95) failed after objections.

Why it matters: the joint session finalized committee recommendations that will be included in the committees' decision-making reports and forwarded to the next stage of the legislative process. Several amendments clarify statutory language or change enforcement and civil-remedy provisions; the deferred effective dates noted in multiple bills mean substantive changes would not take effect until the later date specified in the amendments.

Most measures in the hearing were recommended "pass with amendments" or "pass unamended." Notable adjustments included narrowing the phrasing and scope of a proposed prohibition on carrying weapons at voter service centers (SB 10 30), clarifications to third-party restaurant-reservation civil remedies (SB 102), and adding penalty and administrative-enforcement language for medical cannabis primary caregiver provisions (SB 14 29). One recommended fine increase for expired vehicle inspection certificates (SB 95) failed to carry. The committee deferred SB 12 55 (retention requirements for contractors performing government functions) until Feb. 26, 2025.

Votes at a glance (committee recommendation/outcome): - SB 31 SD1 (property): pass with amendments; recommendation adopted. - SB 83 SD1 (hotels): pass with amendments (AG-proposed preamble and non-impairment clause; defective effective date 07/01/2050); recommendation adopted (Senator Richards noted a reservation). - SB 82 SD1 (service disruptions): recommendation deferred (measure substantially similar to prior measure). - SB 321 (transportation): pass with amendments (effective date amended to 07/01/2050); recommendation adopted with reservations recorded by some senators regarding impacts to Oahu/Honolulu abandoned roads. - SB 1035 (consumer protection) [noted as SB 1035/10 35 in transcript]: pass with amendments (effective date 07/01/2050); recommendation adopted. - SB 1096 (license plates): pass with amendments (defective effective date 07/01/2050); recommendation adopted. - SB 1160 SD1 (consumer protection; codification to chapter 484B1 as discussed in committee): pass with amendments (adds new section to HRS chapter cited in transcript; defective effective date 07/01/2050); recommendation adopted with a senator noting reservations about ticket-broker language. - SB 1030 (election-related weapons/voter intimidation): pass with amendments — committee limited scope to unconcealed carry, used phrase "dangerous instrument, including a firearm," and added definitions for dangerous instrument and concealed/unconcealed (prior concurrence noted); recommendation adopted. - SB 5 (legislative vacancy appointments): pass unamended; committee will note constitutional questions and request an Attorney General opinion for the committee report; recommendation adopted. - SB 95 (inspection-certificate fines): proposed amendment inserting $400 fine when certificate is more than two years old — recommendation failed after objections and two negative votes were noted; recommendation failed. - SB 102 (third-party restaurant reservations): pass with amendments clarifying civil remedies for persons charged fees and adding contractual designee language to allow restaurants or their contract designees (example cited: OpenTable) to authorize distribution to third-party services; recommendation adopted. - SB 142 (insurance claim electronic delivery to mortgagee): pass with amendments adopting bankers' language, defining "electronic delivery" and "mortgagee," and allowing insured to authorize electronic delivery to mortgagee; prior concurrence noted; recommendation adopted. - SB 146, SB 147 (condominium dispute resolution and fines): SB 146 pass unamended; SB 147 pass with amendments (technical changes); recommendations adopted. - SB 183 (state/county contributions to trust fund for bargaining units): pass unamended; recommendation adopted. - SB 332 (foreclosed-home sales): pass unamended; recommendation adopted. - SB 340 (Hawaii Labor Relations Board enforcement authority): pass unamended; recommendation adopted. - SB 602 (HPHA parcels may be closed to public): pass unamended; recommendation adopted. - SB 869 (community outreach boards treated like neighborhood boards under Sunshine Law): pass unamended; recommendation adopted. - SB 871 (arson penalties affecting vulnerable areas): pass unamended; recommendation adopted. - SB 971 (prohibiting release of vehicle following citation for driving without valid license): pass with technical amendments; recommendation adopted. - SB 1022 (animal-in-vehicle protections and authority to enter vehicles to rescue animals): pass with AG-requested amendments and conforming changes; recommendation adopted. - SB 1099 (designation and mapping of important agricultural lands; counties to identify by 12/31/2027): pass unamended; recommendation adopted. - SB 1255 (Uniform Information Practices Act; contractor record retention): deferred to Feb. 26, 2025 at 09:59 a.m. in Room 016. - SB 1263 (expedited review for certain transit-oriented development parcels): pass with amendments; effective date amended to 04/23/2057; recommendation adopted. - SB 1373 (automatic license revocation/refusal for certain convictions): pass with technical amendments clarifying predicate convictions; recommendation adopted. - SB 1382 (assault on National Guard member as class C felony): pass unamended; recommendation adopted. - SB 1408 (Act 130 session-laws effective-date clarification re: DOI notification or congressional approval): pass unamended; recommendation adopted. - SB 1413 (HPHA authority to sell/donate/dispose property abandoned or seized in federal public housing projects; notice to known owners required): pass unamended; recommendation adopted. - SB 1429 (medical cannabis primary caregiver changes including retroactive repeal of sunset and increasing qualifying patients; Department of Health penalty/administrative-enforcement amendments accepted): pass with amendments (Department of Health amendments add administrative penalty authority and a civil penalty provision up to $5,000 per separate violation, with each day counted as a separate violation); recommendation adopted. - SB 1447 (director-of-health cease-and-desist orders to remain in effect during appeal): pass unamended; recommendation adopted. - SB 1451 (sharing critical-infrastructure information; confidentiality language refined from "would reveal" to "could reveal"): pass with amendments; recommendation adopted.

Discussion, directions and decisions: The committees consistently separated discussion from formal action. On SB 5 the committee asked for an Attorney General opinion about potential constitutional issues; on SB 95 members explicitly recorded objections that led to the recommendation failing. Several senators recorded reservations on particular measures (for example, concerns about effects on Oahu/Honolulu roads for a transportation bill), and those reservations were noted in the record. SB 12 55 (contractor record-retention requirement) was deferred to a scheduled Feb. 26 meeting for further work.

Meeting context: the decision-making agenda was described as a compilation of measures previously heard in subject-matter committees with oral and written testimony already received. Most actions were procedural committee recommendations (pass with amendments/pass unamended/defer); the committees adopted committee-recommendation language supplied by the Attorney General's Office in some cases.

Next steps: committee recommendations will be reflected in decision-making reports and forwarded in the legislative process. SB 12 55 is deferred to Feb. 26, 2025 at 9:59 a.m. in Room 016 for further consideration.