House Advances Bills on Gun Violence Prevention and Women’s Rights

HPD officers attend House session. Courtesy photo.

The House of Representatives today passed more than 100 measures on third reading including bills related to gun violence prevention, family issues and education. The bills now move to the Senate for consideration.

Honolulu Police Department Chief Susan Ballard along with more than a dozen police officers and members of Mother’s Demanding Action attended Thursday’s session in support of the gun violence prevention bills. Members of the Hawaiʻi Firearms Coalition attended the session in opposition to those same bills.

Bills passed on Thursday include:

Gun Violence Prevention

HB 2709 Relating to the Uniform Probate Code
Requires a personal representative of a decedent appointed under the Uniform Probate Code to notify the police department of the appropriate county of any and all firearms in an estate. Requires the police department to certify that all firearms in an estate are properly transferred or disposed of before the estate may close.

HB 2744 Relating to Gun Violence Prevention
Establishes the gun violence and violent crimes commission. Requires reports to the Legislature. Makes it a class C felony to purchase, manufacture, or otherwise obtain firearm parts for the purpose of assembling a firearm having no serial number. Amends certain requirements relating to firearms registration.

HB 1902 HD2 Relating to Firearms
Extends the prohibition for large capacity magazines to all firearms, rather than just pistols. Provides an exception to the prohibition for law enforcement agencies and duly authorized officers. Prohibits certain individuals from owning firearms who: (1) as a minor, were diagnosed with behavioral, emotional, or mental disorders, unless the person has been medically documented to be no longer either adversely affected by the behavioral, emotional, or mental disorder or deemed a danger to themselves or others; or (2) were adjudicated by the family court to have committed a certain number of crimes of violence. Requires records of these diagnoses or adjudications to be made available to law enforcement officials.

HB2736 HD1 Relating to Firearms Ammunition
Requires the licensing of sellers of ammunition, and for the identification and proper permitting of purchasers or possessors of ammunition. Regulates ammunition in the same manner that firearms are regulated.

Family Issues

HB2060 HD1 Relating to Domestic Abuse
Provides that family courts may withhold from public inspection any record of a denied temporary restraining order or denied protective order; provided that these records shall remain accessible to law enforcement without a court order.

HB2425 HD1 Relating to Domestic Abuse
Amends the definition of “domestic abuse” under Hawaiʻi’s insurance laws and laws relating to domestic abuse protective orders to include coercive control between family or household members. Defines “coercive control.”

HB1701 HD1 Relating to Equal Pay
Conforms statutory prohibitions against wage discrimination with other prohibitions on employment discrimination. Clarifies allowable justifications for compensation differentials and remedies for pay disparity. Requires employers to disclose wage ranges to employees and prospective employees.

Higher Education

HB2250 HD1 Relating to the University of Hawaii Promise Program Plus.
Establishes the University of Hawaii promise program plus to provide scholarships for the unmet direct cost needs of qualified students enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs in teaching, health care, social work, or engineering at the University of Hawaii who commit to work for at least three years in Hawaii. Appropriates funds to establish, implement, and manage the program.

Other bills

HB2725 HD1 Relating to Capital Improvement Projects (CIP)
Including all means of financing, CIP projects for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 totaling more than $4.9 billion.

HB2362 HD2 Relating to Public Safety
Appropriates funds to purchase the Honolulu Federal Detention Center.

HB2102 HD1 Relating to Hemp Products.
Requires labels on hemp products. Prohibits unwarranted health-related statements about hemp products. Establishes standards for hemp product manufacturers. Prohibits the manufacture or sale of any food into which a hemp product has been added. Prohibits the sale of hemp products designed to appeal to children. Establishes that a product shall not be considered adulterated or misbranded solely by the inclusion of hemp with certain exceptions. Clarifies that a licensed medical cannabis dispensary is not prohibited from manufacturing, distributing, or selling products that contain hemp, or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from hemp, subject to certain conditions. Prohibits the sale of hemp products to persons under twenty-one years of age. Requires DOH to report to the legislature.

Also approved today were House Resolution 18 and House Concurrent Resolution 34 requesting that the Wall Street Journal include Hawaiian Airlines in the newspaper’s future ranking of the best and worst airlines in the United States.

See all 2019 and 2020 House bills that have crossed over to the Senate this session here