Rep. Lisa Kitagawa

Maddy summaryHB 507 appropriates funds for a pilot grant program to help property owners comply with cesspool regulations. It directly affects property owners in areas with cesspools by providing financial assistance through a limited pilot project, not by changing existing rules. The bill does not create new requirements but allocates money to test a compliance support model. This is a procedural funding measure, not a policy change. (1 sentence summary for a procedural bill)

Repeals existing law that preempted local ordinances or regulations that regulate the sale of cigarettes, tobacco products, and electronic smoking devices and nullified and voided any conflicting local laws and regulations. Allows counties to adopt ordinances that regulate the sale of cigarettes, tobacco products, and electronic smoking devices that do not conflict with and are more stringent than the state law that govern smoking.

Makes permanent the amendments made by Act 163, SLH 2023, to the state earned income tax credit and refundable food/excise tax credit. Amends the income thresholds and credit amounts for the low-income household renters tax credit and refundable food/excise tax credit. Amends the state earned income tax credit. Applies to taxable years beginning after 12/31/2024.

Maddy summaryHB 444 modifies criminal law by removing the requirement that perpetrators must know or reasonably believe a victim is 60 years or older. This change applies to certain crimes against seniors, making it easier to prosecute offenders even if they did not know the victim's age. The bill directly affects criminal cases where seniors (60+) are victims, streamlining prosecution by focusing on the victim's age rather than the perpetrator's knowledge. The policy change aims to strengthen legal protections without altering the core crime definitions.

Expands eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to include any individual or household whose monthly income is equal to or less than three hundred per cent of the federal poverty level. Appropriates funds.

Requires the Department of Agriculture to lead and coordinate the State's invasive pest control and eradication biosecurity efforts. Establishes certain reporting requirements. Appropriates funds to the Department of Agriculture for programs and positions in agricultural biosecurity. Appropriates funds to each county as a grant-in-aid, subject to a county match, for the implementation of feral chicken control programs. (CD1)

Requires the University of Hawaiʻi Water Resources Research Center and the Sea Grant College Program to develop an overlay with the Hawaiʻi Cesspool Prioritization Tool to identify specific priority areas in which the county sewer system or other centralized treatment system may most feasibly be expanded or constructed to reduce or eliminate cesspools before 1/1/2050. Makes an appropriation. (CD1)

Establishes a pre-litigation mediation procedure for tenancies that are subject to the eviction moratorium issued under the Governor's emergency proclamations relating to wildfires once the eviction moratorium expires. Restricts when landlord remedies are available depending on the amount of rent due. Appropriates funds to the Judiciary for mediation services. Effective 7/1/2024, except the new pre-litigation procedures are effective on the expiration of the final eviction moratorium. Repeals certain provisions on 12/31/2026, or on the one-year anniversary of the expiration of the Governor's final eviction moratorium emergency supplementary proclamation relating to wildfires, whichever occurs sooner. (CD1)

Authorizes law enforcement and fire officers to enter and inspect any licensee's or permittee's premises, under certain conditions, to verify compliance with the State's Fireworks Control Law. Establishes procedures for the Department of Law Enforcement to conduct administrative inspections of controlled premises. Requires certain licensees and permittees to keep records and maintain inventories. Requires licensees and permittees to report any stolen fireworks or articles pyrotechnic. Authorizes a law enforcement agency or county fire department to safely dispose of confiscated fireworks and articles pyrotechnic. Requires violators to be held liable for storage and disposal costs. Specifies that each type of prohibited firework constitutes a separate violation. Authorizes the Department of Law Enforcement, in addition to the counties, to enforce the Fireworks Control Law. (CD1)

Increases the maximum fine for violations of the fire protection laws. Specifies that each day a violation exists or continues to exist shall constitute a distinct and separate offense. Raises the criminal penalty for the offense of arson in the fourth degree to a class C felony if the offense was committed during the time period and within the geographic area in which a red flag warning was in effect. Provides that the state of mind requirement with respect to the attendant circumstance that the red flag warning was in effect is negligence. (SD1)