HB 129 Hawaii House · 2025 Regular Session

RELATING TO YOUTH FEES AND FINES.

Summary

Prohibits the assessment of any fees, fines, or court costs against a person who was adjudicated for an offense committed during the person's minority, or against the person's parent or guardian, and discharges all related debt obligations assessed before the effective date of the Act. Limits court-ordered community service for a minor to no more than seventy-two hours. Repeals certain penalties imposed on parents, guardians, or other persons associated with unaccompanied children in streets and unmarried minors in dance halls. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD2)

Issues: ✓ Criminal Justice

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Jan 14, 2025 Last action Feb 13, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB129_HD1 → HB129_HD2 · 6 edits

MODERATE

This bill amends Hawaii statutes to prohibit fees, fines, and court costs against minors under 18 and their parents/guardians for offenses committed while they were minors. It also limits community service for minors to 72 hours and repeals certain penalties imposed on parents. The changes aim to reduce financial burdens on youth and families while maintaining accountability through non-monetary consequences like community service and license revocation.

Scope change

The bill expands protections to cover all minors under 18 and their parents/guardians across multiple statutes related to traffic offenses, juvenile justice, and drug testing fees.

ELIGIBILITY

Added exemptions prohibiting financial penalties against minors under 18 and their parents/guardians for offenses committed while they were minors

REQUIREMENT

Modified community service limits for minors from no specified limit to a maximum of 72 hours that cannot interfere with school or work

Modified traffic violation penalties to exclude financial penalties for minors while maintaining license revocation and community service options

Added requirement that all costs for drug testing and treatment assessments for minors be borne by the court rather than the minor or parent

Modified restitution and compensation fee provisions to exempt minors and their parents from financial penalties while allowing restitution to victims

ENFORCEMENT

Removed provisions allowing parents/guardians to be fined or assessed fees for their minor's offenses

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 13, 2025

Committee

Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN as amended in HD 2 with Representative(s) Kila, Lamosao, Reyes Oda, Shimizu voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) Alcos, Garcia, Matsumoto, Muraoka, Pierick voting no (5) and Representative(s) Cochran, Kitagawa, Ward excused (3).

lower

Feb 13, 2025

Committee

Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 630) as amended in HD 2, recommending referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 5, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Poepoe, Belatti, Hashem, Kahaloa, Perruso, Takayama, Todd, Shimizu; Ayes with reservations: none; 1 Noes: Representative(s) Garcia; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Cochran.

lower

Jan 31, 2025

Committee

Reported from HSH (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 29) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to JHA.

lower

Jan 28, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on HSH recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 7 Ayes: Representative(s) Marten, Olds, Amato, Chun, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Takayama, Takenouchi; Ayes with reservations: none; 1 Noes: Representative(s) Garcia; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Alcos.

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Committee

Referred to HSH, JHA, FIN, referral sheet 1

lower

Jan 16, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 14, 2025

Introduced

Prefiled.

lower

8 primary · 0 co-sponsors