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The other pakalolo bill: Senate Bill 3335 allowing for adult use of recreational marijuana cleared two Senate committees last week and now awaits a hearing in two others. The legislation calls for state regulation and taxation of that most potent of buds.

You can track the progress of SB 3335 , but you might also want to track another cannabis bill that has received far less attention but that is also moving along. would repeal criminal penalties for possession of 1 ounce or less of pakalolo. It passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee Friday and could soon cross over to the House.

Cops, prosecutors and attorneys general , not surprisingly. Under current law, adults can possess up to 3 grams of pot — or about six or seven joints, say officials. But an ounce works out to between 50 and 70 joints, not a “subtle distinction,” testified Kory Young, deputy AG.

Pot today has a far higher THC content, Young and others said, and that’s bad for kids who may have access to their parents’ stashes. There will be more traffic accidents and mental health problems. It might even scare away Asian tourists.

That’s fear-mongering, say supporters.

“It is time to bring the cannabis industry out of the shadows, regulate it, and implement a thoughtful and compassionate approach to cannabis use,” said the state Office of the Public Defender.

And what about alcohol? It’s a far deadlier drug yet perfectly legal, taxed and regulated, the ACLU of Hawaii pointed out.

Judiciary Chair Karl Rhoads will amend SB 2487 to raise the decriminalization threshold to 15 grams rather than 28 grams, which is an ounce. The penalty for possession will remain a $130 fine.

Off and running?: We’re not even at the halfway mark through the 2024 Hawaii Legislature, but quite a few incumbents already have their eyes on reelection. The primary is Aug. 10 and the filing deadline is June 4.

In the state Senate, Sens. Lorraine Inouye, Brandon Elefante and Lynn DeCoite to be on the ballot this year. That’s as of Friday.

In the House, so too have Reps. Chris Todd, Jeanne Kapela, Kirstin Kahaloa, Nicole Lowen, David Tarnas, Terez Amato, Luke Evslin, Mahina Poepoe, Dee Morikawa, Gene Ward, Andrew Garrett, Adrian Tam, Jenna Takenouchi, Daniel Holt, May Mizuno, Sean Quinlan, Darius Kila, Kalani Souza, Diamond Garcia, David Alcos, Elijah Pierick, Sonny Ganaden, Micah Aiu, Gregg Takayama, Cory Chun and Lauren Matsumoto.

Legislative races are partisan and there are no term limits, while county races are nonpartisan with term limits.

Speaking of county races, no brand name candidate has emerged to challenge Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi this year. Nonetheless, relative unknowns (to The Blog, anyway, and The Blog knows many people) David Asing, Karl Dicks, Reginald Nakamoto, Kevin Pila and Alexander (Sasha) Schoolov have also pulled papers for possible runs for the mayor’s office.

Cash flow: Remember six months ago when people from all over the world were sending money to Maui to support the thousands of people who had lost their homes and even their families in the wildfires? It seemed like every day there were new GoFundMe appeals and other fundraising drives all over social media aimed at providing cash, clothes, food and shelter for fire victims.

Civil Beat reported about a few of them, including the Lahaina Fire Fund that raised nearly $1 million organizers said would be distributed as direct assistance to victims via a registered nonprofit charitable organization. That never happened. And Eric and Colton West instead offloaded the money to West Maui churches to distribute when it became clear they could be looking at a monster tax bill from the Internal Revenue Service.

The super PAC Our Hawaii Action also raised eyebrows — and official state attention — after it quickly collected more than $680,000 that it said it was giving directly to organizations that were helping fire victims but also suggested it would use the money to fund political candidates.

That raised the eyebrows in particular of House Speaker Scott Saiki who asked the AG’s office to investigate and establish auditing procedures to ensure that money raised for fire relief was going to victims. He urged Gov. Josh Green to issue an emergency proclamation warning against fraudulent fundraisers.

Lawmakers have taken that concern to heart it seems and on Friday the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would make it a criminal offense to commit “charitable fraud” during a state of emergency declared by the Hawaii governor.

criminalizes certain deceptive or misleading practices during emergencies including using funds raised under the pretext of direct assistance for victims for other than that purpose. Soliciting could be anything from email, a handbill or even an honor box that purports to be raising money for victims.

The bill was sponsored by five Democratic senators, but in true bipartisan spirit Jacob Wienczek of the Hawaii Young Republicans submitted testimony in support. “During a crisis, it is ghastly and inhumane for people to misuse charitable contributions and the promise of charitable aid,” he said.

Originally the bill sought to make the law retroactive to July 2023, (before the Lahaina fire) but that ran afoul of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits states from passing “ex facto law” — any law that retroactively criminalizes behavior.

The bill has already cleared the Senate Public Safety Committee and now goes to the full Senate for consideration.