LIHUE — Here are some of the new state laws that took effect at the start of the new year:
• Act 273 purports to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get in trouble for having it.
After Saturday, Jan. 11, possession of three grams or less of marijuana will still be a petty misdemeanor. The only difference is the maximum penalty will be a $130 fine instead of a month in jail. Those with prior convictions involving under three grams of marijuana can ask the court to expunge their record as long as it was the only criminal charge stemming from the incident.
The act also establishes a task force to be charged with “thoughtfully considering recommendations on marijuana policy” and preparing a report for lawmakers prior to the start of the 2021 legislative session.
• Act 138 is an attempt at addressing childhood obesity by taking soda out of kids’ meals at fast-food restaurants.
Effective Jan. 1, restaurants offering a children’s meal with a beverage have to make the default drink either water or flavored water with no added sugar, corn syrup or artificial sweetener, low-fat milk, or fruit or vegetable juice.
That doesn’t mean soda isn’t allowed. You just have to ask for it when you order a Happy Meal.
• Act 236 lets you cash out leftover money on those gift cards you got for Christmas. The new law, effective Jan. 1, is just a single sentence added to state statutes that says: “For any gift certificate with a remaining balance less than $5, the certificate issuer shall redeem the remaining value of the gift certificate for cash.”
• Act 117 allows police officers to apply for a search warrant by making a sworn oral statement to a judge or magistrate either in person or over the phone in lieu of a written affidavit.
The oral statement is subject to the same requirements as a traditional affidavit. The officer applying for the warrant must be sworn in, and the statement to the judge must be recorded and played upon request to the person being subjected to the search.
• Act 148 adds a third gender designation to the Hawaii drivers license — X. The new law is meant to address institutional discrimination against Hawaii’s transgender-identifying population, the largest per capita in the nation, according to House Bill 1165, which was signed into law in June and took effect at the start of the year.
“The purpose of this act is to allow transgender and gender-non-conforming individuals to avoid invasive questioning and discriminatory treatment by expanding gender options applicable to driver’s licenses and state identification cards,” the bill says. “Mandatory binary classification does not accommodate the wide range of natural biological variations or gender expressions.”
•••
Caleb Loehrer, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0441 or cloehrer@thegardenisland.com.
make america chill again , bro