Will Tragedy Change How Ჹɲʻ Polices Illegal Fireworks?
A task force created to find and stop shipments has seized more than 100 tons of explosives — but no criminal charges have followed.
Ჹɲʻʻs thirst for illegal fireworks displays are a perennial problem for lawmakers, resulting in dozens of bills introduced by the Legislature that donʻt pass.
In the last two sessions, 30 measures were proposed. Just two were approved — one of them establishing a task force to stop the import of the explosives.
The Illegal Fireworks Task Force seized 227,000 pounds of fireworks in the last year and a half, yet those cases have resulted in zero criminal charges.
Now, lawmakers returning to the State Capitol this month face extra pressure to put a lid on the aerial displays in the wake of a New Year’s Eve explosion at a Salt Lake home that left three people dead and seriously injured more than 20.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Karl Rhoads cited the well-known that “it’s not the punishment that deters people, it’s getting caught. If you don’t think you’re going to get caught, it doesn’t really matter what the penalty is.”
“Until we start catching enough of them that they’re actually worried about getting caught,” he said, “it’s going to be hard to stop.”
For 25 years, aerial fireworks statewide have been restricted to official public displays. On Oʻahu, all fireworks except firecrackers have been banned since 2011.
But the proliferation of aerials only seems to expand, as was obvious this New Year’s in Honolulu.
Enforcement proposals in the Legislature have often focused on the supply side, including inspecting shipping containers — inside which a majority of illegal fireworks are believed to enter the state — and adding electronic scanning equipment at airports and harbors.
The primary reason for the lack of progress on fireworks bills is that fireworks are popular, legislators say, and they fear the wrath of their constituents. Even a simple bill calling for the state to study the social and economic impacts of permitting the sale of aerials was never heard.
It remains to be seen whether a deadly explosion of a fireworks cache will tip that political balance. But Gov. Josh Green was among those this week who immediately called for greater penalties for people who possess illegal fireworks. And key lawmakers are already working on legislation to punish importers.
The Work Of The Task Force
The Illegal Fireworks Task Force, in 2023 with $1.25 million in funding, pulled together county, state and federal law enforcement agencies to tackle the importation of illegal fireworks and explosives into Ჹɲʻ. The task force came after a Civil Beat investigation found criminal citations for using fireworks almost always fizzled out.
Since then, the task force has conducted at least five seizures. One came during a series of routine inspections of shipping containers in December 2023, which department press releases boasted uncovered and stopped thousands of pounds of fireworks from making it to the black market.
Resulting investigations last year led to two felony charges for illegal possession of fireworks. The department also issued 14 misdemeanor citations for fireworks in recent weeks, according to spokesman Brooks Baehr.
But officials confirmed to Civil Beat Thursday that there have been no criminal charges related to the importation and trafficking of fireworks due to the seizures. In fact, so far task force investigators have not sent any cases to prosecutors.
Law enforcement officials declined to comment on the status of the fireworks investigations. The task force is set to end in June 2025, but the state law enforcement department is asking lawmakers for another $1.2 million to keep it going.
The Department of Law Enforcement, the host agency for the task force, also is asking for $25 million for software that would be used to address criminal activity, including those involving fireworks.
Rep. David Tarnas, chair of the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee, said he considers the task force effective, noting it has seized more than 100 tons of illegal fireworks in the first 18 months. It confiscated more fireworks in 2023 than 2024, which Tarnas said made a dent in the volume of illegal aerials launched from Hawai‘i neighborhoods a year ago.
But smugglers and sellers “got smarter, and they pushed harder, and they brought in more because they knew that the market was there,” he said. After the New Yearʻs tragedy this year, he said, more needs to be done, but acknowledged “it’s tough to change people’s behavior.”
“They love this stuff, people love to blow things up,” he said. “I get it. It’s hard to legislate against that, so that’s why we’ve always gone after supply.”
The task force needs more money — at least as much as the Legislature provided in 2023, Tarnas said — for operations, warehouses, training, education and disposal of fireworks. That might also encourage some of the seven federal agencies included in the state task force to commit more federal resources to the effort.
But Tarnas said he is eager to see the early cases move forward to prosecution “because we need to get some big cases to actually stop the supply.”
Rhoads, the Senate Judiciary chair, noted it is already in Hawai‘i to import aerial fireworks without a license or to possess 25 pounds of aerial fireworks without a permit. If the state increases the penalty for smuggling illegal fireworks, he said, “and the importers know that some of their colleagues have been nailed before, then that might actually work.”
‘This Has Got To Change’
Lawmakers said they have struggled with fireworks bills year after year in part because powerful aerials have become so common.
Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee Chair Jarrett Keohokalole said he pushed a bill in recent years to make it easier for police to cite violators because “this has got to change.”
Some lawmakers wondered if the public fully understands the risks involved, even after the Salt Lake tragedy.
“This was like a Russian missile attack on a Ukrainian village, it was that kind of carnage,” Rhoads said. “People need to be aware that they’re dealing with big forces that can kill you.”
Aside from the legislation that created the task force, the only other successful major fireworks legislation was of 2024, which lets authorities inspect warehouses and other facilities where fireworks are stored to ensure records are kept and stolen goods reported.
Of the 28 other fireworks bills introduced over the past two years, most died early in session or never even received a hearing.
The Ჹɲʻ State Fire Council had pushed for a statewide limit on fireworks on New Year’s Eve, the Fourth of July and Chinese New Year’s Day except by permit for “cultural purposes,” noting they cause injuries, smoke, and noise, which can be traumatic to veterans and pets. It too died.
One bill that made it part of the way through the legislative process would have allowed random inspections of shipping containers to check for illegal fireworks and explosives. It faced significant headwinds from the start.
The state Department of Transportation, among several of the government agencies raising concerns, wanted inspections to take place away from a cargo terminal to avoid congestion at harbors.
Matson Navigation Co. said it supported the intent of the bill but stressed the need for “timely service” to residents and business. The company, which controls most shipping between Ჹɲʻ and the mainland, pointed out that 90% of the stateʻs consumer goods, motor vehicles, construction materials and fuel pass through harbors.
An amended version of the random inspections bill unanimously passed the Senate but the House let it die in three hearings — the literal kiss of death for bills.
