House to consider whether Hawaii state Rep. Sharon Har should detail terms of license revocation

A special House committee investigating state Rep. Sharon Har’s actions leading to her 2021 drunken driving arrest — and subsequent acquittal — voted Thursday to require that she explain in writing to House Speaker Scott Saiki the terms of her two-year license revocation and what she needs to do to get it back if she’s reelected to her Kapolei-Makakilo House seat this year.

The recommendation will go to a vote before the full House.

Rep. Scot Matayoshi (D, Kaneohe-Maunawili-Kailua) repeatedly said such a letter fails to address the committee’s findings that Honolulu police found Har driving in the head-on direction of one-way Beretania Street the night of Feb. 22, 2021, or that she had an upper respiratory illness for weeks, took medication that included codeine that had not been prescribed for her condition, drank alcohol and socialized at AnyPlace Cocktail Lounge at a time when COVID-19 vaccines were not widely available and state and county officials were urging caution when going out in public.

Going out while sick during the height of the pandemic “showed poor judgment,” Matayoshi said. “We as leaders of the community were asking people to stay home and be safe … and Representative Har did not follow that example.”

Some members of the committee who reviewed police body-camera footage said they heard Har say, “Black lives matter,” but found no evidence that she said, “Do you know who I am?”

Rep. Amy Perruso (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore- Poamoho) also said Har told officers she had not taken any prescription medication, and Perruso wondered why Har had not been truthful. Har later said she had taken a prescription medicine.

“If she was not truthful with the officers, why not?” Perruso asked. “And then if she was not truthful with us, why not?”

Har’s criminal case was dismissed, and she was acquitted Jan. 10 following a Hawaii Supreme Court decision that criminal complaints are defective if they do not follow a procedural law requiring a signed affidavit or official declaration from the complaining party.

The court ruling led to the dismissal of over 1,000 misdemeanor and petty misdemeanor cases in Honolulu alone.