Hawaii lawmakers have bolstered the state fireworks provisions with a handful of successful bills, and not a moment too soon. Days after the 2025 regular legislative session ended, Charmaine Benigno became the last of more than 20 patients from the deadly Aliamanu fireworks explosion to be discharged from Straub Benioff’s Burn Care Unit. Benigno, who suffered burns to more than 80% of her body after the New Year’s Eve conflagration, faces a long road to recovery and will be returning to Straub regularly to receive skin grafts.
In Aliamanu’s long shadow, legislators found the political will to push through multiple proposals that come at the fireworks issue from both sides — prevention and enforcement. The bills need to be enacted immediately.
For nearly 70 years, the state’s on-again, off-again relationship with pyrotechnics legislation has left a raft of ineffective ordinance in its wake. State decision-makers rightly decided to put public safety over cultural tradition, business interests and general merriment in 2000, when a statewide ban on aerial fireworks was adopted. But it’s been hard going ever since.
Unlike regulation, an outright prohibition can only work with unrelenting follow-through. Under a ban, scofflaws continue to indulge, defaulting to a catch-as-catch-can mode to purchase and stockpile forbidden goods. Fireworks are a unique illicit item. As dangerous as they are spectacular, aerials cannot easily be enjoyed discreetly. In the islands, pyrotechnics enjoy relatively wide use just two times a year — another byproduct of past state attempts to rein in usage — offering cover from an overwhelmed police force. In the interim, dangerous caches of explosive material grow unregulated in residential housing. As evidenced by the explosions lighting up the sky on July Fourth and New Year’s Eve, the dragnet is full of holes.
Now, lawmakers are launching a multipronged push to plug breaches in the wall, either by reducing incoming supply flowing through local ports and into residents’ hands or increasing the likelihood of adherence to existing statutes. Chief among these efforts are state budget line items that build out law enforcement capabilities. The largest outlay, $5.2 million, will go toward establishment of an Explosive Enforcement Section with eight positions dedicated to disrupting and reducing available goods and cracking down on lawbreakers.
Another $2.5 million is earmarked for the joint Illegal Fireworks Task Force, up from $1.26 million allotted for fiscal year 2026. Additional funds could go far for this state Department of Law Enforcement (DLE) group, which has been unable to replicate early success. If signed into law, the swelling of DLE’s capabilities will be codified via House Bill 806, which also earmarks $500,000 for sting operations and an explosives and firearms laboratory on Oahu, plus a public education program consisting of advertising and promotional videos. DLE received what it asked for in the formation of the explosives section and robust task force funding; now it is time for the agency to deliver.
Legislators are also — finally — showing interest in innovative, technology-based solutions to identify and apprehend criminals. HB 550 enables law enforcement to establish probable cause through the use of drone imagery, a contingency not previously allowed under the Fireworks Control Law. While no new funding has been assigned to the project, the use of drones could be a cost-effective answer to the decades-old question of how officers might identify the origin of aerial launches.
Finally, HB 1483 would update definitions and penalties for fireworks offenses, toughening penalties for incidents that result in bodily injury or death.
While none of the bills or budget conditions passed this session wildly deviate from established fireworks law, they do represent a hardening of sentiment against criminality. How the enlarged prevention and enforcement resources impact aerial use, if at all, will likely remain unclear until New Year’s Eve. It all boils down to enforcement. Keep your eyes to the sky.
