Ways to toughen legal penalties for those caught using illegal aerial pyrotechnics advanced during discussion of a Honolulu City Council fireworks-related measure earlier this month.
Sparked by the New Year’s Aliamanu fireworks explosion, which so far has claimed six lives, injured 20 and led to the arrest of a dozen people, Bill 7 seeks to amend the city’s fire code to increase penalties for those possessing, using and causing the explosion of any aerial device, pyrotechnic or display fireworks on Oahu without a permit.
At the state Capitol, similar state-level bills are being floated to potentially increase fines and penalties for people who fire off illegal pyrotechnics and to make it easier for law enforcement to cite and arrest them and for prosecutors to gain convictions.
To that end, Bill 7, introduced in January by Council members Esther Kia‘aina and Val Okimoto, intends to more closely align city laws with those of the state. The measure also claims that despite efforts by state law enforcement to confiscate black-market fireworks, their flow into the island and explosive use have not abated.
Bill 7 further asserts that “fireworks violators are rarely cited.”
“If charges against fireworks violators are filed, such charges are often dropped. This cycle has led to a situation where the public can witness illegal fireworks exploding in the sky and yet the perpetrators are rarely, if ever, brought to justice,” the measure states. “In order to break this cycle, stricter penalties for the illegal use of fireworks must be implemented.”
Bill 7 calls for some illegal fireworks users to be convicted of more serious crimes.
“If the total weight of the aerial devices, articles pyrotechnic, or display fireworks is 25 pounds or more, such person shall be guilty of a class C felony pursuant to (state law) and be punished by imprisonment not exceeding five years, a fine of not less than $1,000 and not more than $10,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment,” the bill states.
Conversely, if users of illegal aerial fireworks are found with “less than 25 pounds, such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by imprisonment not exceeding one year, a fine of not less than $250 and not more than $2,000, or by both such fine and imprisonment,” the bill states.
Bill 7 also calls on the Honolulu Police Department and the city Department of the Prosecuting Attorney to do more.
In February the city prosecutor submitted written testimony to the Council citing the inherent difficulties under existing city laws to convict those suspected of igniting illegal aerials. The prosecutor noted the city’s legal definition for the fireworks in question says they “must contain more than one-quarter grain of explosive substance.”
The prosecutor explained that a police officer who witnesses “the ignition and combustion of an aerial device cannot testify regarding the mass of explosive material that item once contained.”
“In other words, the prosecution cannot prove the item qualifies as an ‘aerial device.’ That evidence has literally been destroyed,” the testimony states. “So even in cases where an officer directly witnesses the explosion, a prosecution for the offense will not result in a conviction.”
The inability of counties within the state to legally enact laws for serious crimes also was highlighted.
“Because no law authorizes a county to enact felony offenses, the proposed grading of a class C felony for certain violations of (the City Charter) would not be enforceable,” the prosecutor’s testimony states. “Nor can a county use (state law) to graft felony penalties onto the violation of a municipal ordinance.”
But during the Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting March 6, Kia‘aina said she posted a new committee draft to Bill 7 that “aims to facilitate the effective and efficient enforcement of city and state fireworks laws while at the same time staying within the confines of the state law and City Charter.”
“Since some of the fireworks prohibitions in city law overlap with the fireworks prohibitions in state law, to the extent that there are common prohibitions in city fireworks laws and state fireworks laws, city penalty provisions in my (draft version) of the bill refer to the penalties imposed under state law,” she added.
And under Bill 7, she said, any “common definitions” related to city fireworks laws — such as “aerial devices” or “pyrotechnic contents” — would defer to definitions established under state law.
“This way, if the state Legislature amends the fireworks definitions in state law, the fireworks definitions in city law will be automatically updated,” Kia‘aina said.
She explained that her version of Bill 7 will better align “the enforcement and penalty provisions with city fireworks laws with state fireworks laws so that illegal fireworks perpetrators, especially with respect to illegal aerial devices, do not find loopholes to avoid prosecution.”
“For example, violators of the prohibitions regarding aerial devices with a total weight of 25 pounds or more may argue that they should be prosecuted under city laws as a misdemeanor instead of under state law as a class C felony,” she added. “This would not be an issue under my (draft)” of Bill 7.
However, Kia‘aina said that “if other state fireworks laws are amended this legislative session, city fireworks laws may also need to be amended for consistency purposes in a separate bill at a later date.”
At the meeting, Honolulu Fire Department Battalion Chief Pao-Chi Hwang was among those who testified in support of Bill 7.
“So it looks like this bill increases the penalties for illegal fireworks, and our hope is that it will reduce the use of illegal fireworks, and we would anticipate a drop in fireworks-related injuries and fires due to this bill,” he said.
In written testimony, Stephanie Kendrick, the Hawaiian Humane Society’s director of community engagement, said, “Despite tragic deaths and injuries spanning many years — and reaching a new level of horror with the Aliamanu tragedy this year — the crime of using illegal fireworks is rarely punished.”
“These bombs increasingly go off without regard to date, and terrorize pets and people alike,” she added. “The unpredictable barrage makes it impossible to prepare and creates sustained stress, which can do lasting damage to emotional, mental and physical health.”
Ultimately, the committee recommended Bill 7 for the full Council’s second-reading review.
