Hawaii
Hawaii state lawmakers advance illegal fireworks measures
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – With the horrific and disturbing aftermath of this year’s New Year’s explosion in Salt Lake still fresh on their minds, state lawmakers in both the House and Senate approved four key measures in the effort to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.
“This is really is an important session, that incident really heightened what the legislature needed to do,” said state Sen. Brandon Elefante, who chairs the senate Public Safety Committee. He introduced Senate Bill 222, which provides stiffer penalties for illegal fireworks offenders. It also provides additional funding for the Illegal Fireworks Task Force.
“I am very grateful and thankful to the chairs of the Finance committee and Ways and Means for appropriating $7.65 million dollars to the Department of Law Enforcement for eight positions for enforcement of illegal fireworks,” he said.
“Now that we have increased penalties with ‘B’ felonies, we’re hoping that those who are caught through the Fireworks Task Force — when they are staring down a ’B’ felony and a ten thousand dollar fine, that will be more of a hindrance,” said state Law Enforcement Director Mike Lambert.
In the House, three bills made it through final readings. One of them was House Bill 1483.
“I think the most important part of this bill is that the legislature is finally taking a proactive stance towards illegal fireworks,” said state Rep, Scot Matayoshi, chair of the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.
“Instead of just hoping that we catch them at the ports or through the mail, we’re actually going after these people,” Matayoshi said.
He added that the bill changes the definition of aerial fireworks to make it easier to prosecute. It will also allow law enforcement to cite fireworks offenders, similar to handing out traffic tickets
“We’re adding enhanced penalties to people who fire off fireworks illegally and hurt people or even kill people. So we’re really going after people instead of taking a more passive stance.”
HB 806 provides funds to conduct fireworks sting operations and establish an explosive and firearms laboratory. And finally HB 550 allows the use of recordings made by drones to establish probable cause for arrests.
“I am really proud of the legislature this year for taking that proactive stance and really making movement on this issue,” Matayoshi said.
“We really needed to do something and I think we all collaborated and worked together,” said Elefante. “I want to thank my colleagues in the senate and the house and more specifically working the AGs office and law enforcement and stakeholders to really craft good legislation so it gives these necessary tools to combat illegal fireworks.”
With this year’s legislature now complete, the four measures now head to the Governor’s office for his consideration and signature.
Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
The Sony Open in Hawaii has the honors of being the kickoff event to the 2026 PGA Tour season after the cancellation of The Sentry at Kapalua this season.
Instead of Maui, the Tour debuts in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Jan. 15-18, at the Seth Raynor-designed Waialae Country Club, where Nick Taylor prevailed in a playoff over Nico Echavarria last year.
Among the changes this season is the field size, which was reduced from 144 to 120, and, there is no longer is a Monday qualifier offering four spots. Will that help with pace of play? Stay tuned.
The field includes the following notables in addition to Taylor and Echavarria: Daniel Berger, Keegan Bradley, Michael Brennan, Corey Conners, Tony Finau, Chris Gotterup, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Billy Horschel, Robert MacIntyre, Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Sahith Theegala, Gary Woodland and 62-year-old Vijay Singh.
Here’s the full field for the Sony Open, which will be live on Golf Channel all four days as well as NBC with early-round coverage on Saturday and Sunday.
This year’s Sony purse is $9.1 million and the winner also will receive 500 FedEx Cup points.
HAWAII ISLAND (HawaiiNewsNow) – The County of Hawaii Department of Parks and Recreation is now accepting applications for temporary positions in its 2026 Summer Fun program.
The two positions available are Activity Aide I ($17.50 per hour) and Activity Aide II ($19 per hour).
To be considered for employment, applicants must possess a valid first-aid certification, attend mandatory training June 2–5, and be available to work June 8–July 17.
Applications are available online on the Parks and Recreation website, and must be submitted to the Recreation Division Office at 799 Pi‘ilani St., Hilo, HI 96720, postmarked by Saturday, Feb. 28.
For more information, call the Recreation Division Office at (808) 961-8740.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
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