HB 610 Hawaii House · 2025 Regular Session

RELATING TO COLD CASE INVESTIGATIONS.

HB 610 establishes a dedicated Cold Case Investigation Unit within the state Attorney General's Department and allocates funding for its operations. The bill directly affects cold case investigations by creating a specialized team to re-examine unresolved criminal cases. Key provisions include appropriating state funds to support the unit's staffing, technology, and investigative resources. The unit will become operational starting July 1, 3000, as specified in the bill.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Jan 17, 2025 Last action Feb 14, 2025
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What changed between versions

HB610 HB610_HD1 · 4 edits
MODERATE
The bill was reformatted from a House version to a House Draft version, with significant changes to the effective date (moved from July 1, 2025 to July 1, 3000), addition of a formal definition for 'cold case', and minor text cleanup. These changes clarify the bill's operational definition and ensure it remains in effect for an extended period.
Scope change
The bill's scope remains focused on establishing a cold case investigation unit within the Department of the Attorney General, but the definition of 'cold case' was added to clarify when cases qualify for investigation.
TIMELINE

The effective date was changed from July 1, 2025 to July 1, 3000, making the law long-term effective rather than temporary.

DEFINITION

A new definition for 'cold case' was added, specifying it means a case where all investigative leads, physical evidence, and witnesses have been exhausted and the case has been closed for a significant period.

TECHNICAL

Text formatting and spacing were cleaned up throughout the document, including removal of extraneous metadata and standardization of line breaks.

Minor text corrections were made to improve readability and consistency in the legislative language.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
7
Key actions
1
Committee
3
Feb 14, 2025
Committee
Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 725) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.
lower
Feb 7, 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, Hashem, Kahaloa, Perruso, Takayama, Todd, Shimizu; Ayes with reservations: Representative(s) Garcia; Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Belatti, Cochran.
lower
Jan 21, 2025
Committee
Referred to JHA, FIN, referral sheet 2
lower
Jan 21, 2025
Introduced
Introduced and Pass First Reading.
lower
Jan 17, 2025
Introduced
Pending introduction.
lower
6 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors