Senate Judiciary committee advances wide range of bills, including tighter historic-property test and tougher repeat-speeding penalty

The Senate Committee on Judiciary met Feb. 26 in a decision-making session and advanced a broad slate of bills affecting historic-preservation criteria, criminal penalties, environmental review, housing governance and health-care records.

An opening presentation of SB 15 proposed narrowing the definition of “historic property” so that a parcel must be at least 50 years old and either meet criteria for the Hawaii Register of Historic Places or have important value to Native Hawaiians or other ethnic groups. "This amends the definition of historic property to require that the property meets the criteria for inclusion in the ... Hawaii register of historic places," said Speaker 1. The committee recommended passage with amendments and the measure was adopted.

The panel also approved SB 97, which raises the penalty for a third or subsequent excessive-speeding offense to a class C felony. Committee discussion clarified that the bill, as amended, would specify an indeterminate term of imprisonment of five years under the relevant statutory provision, remove an…