Senate Standing Committee on Judiciary

Welcome, everyone to the Judiciary Committee hearing this Friday morning. We do have one bill that we're actually hearing that's on our 10 o' clock agenda. This is HP. I'm sorry. So we do have a two minute limit on testimony, both orally are both here and on Zoom.

And if we have a major zoom failure, we'll try again on Monday at 10:00am in this room. 016 Monday being March 31st. Is that right?

Yeah. Okay. Okay. So the one item we have on the 10:00 o' clock agenda is House Bill 698. This amends the criminal penalties for various animal cruelty offenses. We did post a proposed SD1 which restricts this to pets only. And I will start on the testifier list at this point. First up is Mark Tom for Deputy Attorney on zoom.

Not present on Zoom, Chair.

With comments, Hayley Cheng. Oh you are here. Tom? Did you want to testify. Written. Okay, thanks. With comments. Next is Hayley Cheng for the Public Defender. Good morning.

Good morning. The Public Defender's Office is opposing this measure. And as we articulated in our written testimony, obviously, and I believe it goes without saying that we don't advocate, condone, or support cruelty to animals in any way. Our issue is that this bill seeks to enhance existing offenses and increase penalties for existing offenses is that that we are not regularly enforcing.

In a previous Committee, I testified that anecdotally, the Office of the Public Defender sees very few of these cases a year. I've been practicing for almost 18 years. I myself have only handled maybe two of these cases in my entire career.

So that indicates to us that these measure, these laws that are not being enforced, these charges are not being prosecuted. So we believe that resources and energy should be focused on enforcement, increased enforcement of our existing laws and see if those measures work.

We are seeking, like we said, to enhance penalties for laws that are not currently being enforced. So that is our position and we'll stand in addition to what we submitted in writing. I'll be available for questions. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next is Stephanie Kendrick for Hawaiian Humane Society. Good morning.

Good morning, Chair Rhoads, Senator Chang. Stephanie Kendrick with the Hawaiian Humane Society. You have our testimony in strong support of this measure. I want to point out that the measure before us today, as chair mentioned, the SD1 proposed, is a compromise.

It's a compromise that acknowledges that we're not yet at a place in our community where robust support for the protection of animals, where there's robust support for the protection of animals. And while that's disappointing to those of us who care about them, you can't make public policy change while ignoring reality.

So this bill has been scaled back to do something simple but powerful. It raises the penalties on the two statutes that we use to prosecute the most egregious crimes against pet animals.

I will point out that the cockfighting lobby and their supporters at the Hawaii State Legislature have ensured that chickens are not included in the definition of pet animal. Our leaders talk a lot about breaking the cycle of violence in our community, and the silent majority of residents desperately wants to see that happen. Yet little progress is evident.

This bill is a step in that direction. There's no more silent constituency than our animals. They cannot speak for themselves. And I'm deeply grateful to the advocates who join me today in person and in written testimony to speak on their behalf. But make no mistake, this bill is also about protecting people.

Decades of research shows a correlation between violence against animals and the abuse of vulnerable human beings. Our keiki, our kupuna. I urge you to support this measure and to encourage your colleagues in this body to support this measure. Let's take a step toward breaking the cycle of violence in our community. Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate the time to testify.

Thank you. Next up is Smita Narong, Hawaii Humane Society, in support. Nicole Galase for the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, in opposition. Lisa Wood also Hawaii Cattleman's Council, also in opposition. Tiffany Kim for Fur Angel Foundation, in support. Marian Hussenbux for Animal Interfaith Alliance and written in support. Chantell Moniz for Legacy Rescue foundation on Zoom or here.

Not present on Zoom, Chair.

Good morning.

My name is Chantell Moniz. I'm President of Hina's Legacy Rescue Foundation. I do support the Bill. There's a lot that we feel could be increased and obviously it's always trying to take the step in the right direction for us. We are faced with so many animal cruelty every day.

Yes, there's a lot of opposition where chicken fight is or chickens is concerned, like Stephanie was mentioning. But again, they're not reading thebBill. And I feel like if they read it in depth, they would understand that it's more towards animal cruelty where I'm not saying that I'm in support of chicken fighting, because I'm not.

But I think the message has been miscommunicated for us. We deal with animal cruelty every day. We see dogs being shot. We see decomposed bodies. We see just so much cruelty, dogs being slashed, hung. We have so much evidence out there for cases to be prosecuted.

And unfortunately, the Prosecutor's Office doesn't take a look at it, and that's another issue. But we feel like maybe if this crimes or this law was, if the bill was, if the penalties was increased, then maybe they would think about it before doing something like that. I mean, there, these animals are voiceless. They can't tell us what's wrong with them. They can't defend themselves, and that's what we're here for.

Okay,

Thank you.

Thank you very much. Sorry, I'm being told you guys can't hear me back there. Next up is Amber Tinanis for Hina's legacy foundation. Also, apologies if I butchered your name. Good morning.

Aloha. This is gonna be hard for me, so just bear with me. As a citizen of the State of Hawaii, I'm deeply concerned about the steady increase in crime, violence, and it's across the state, specifically the crimes against animals. It's important that we understand the most violent crimes. Start with animal abuse and progress there.

This is why this bill is so important. Animal abuse is strongly correlated with other forms of violence, including domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, and it's considered a predictor of a violent behavior towards humans. As of today, State of Hawaii, we have the class C felony, but it really doesn't mean anything if prosecutors aren't willing to prosecute.

These crimes are heinous. It's hard to even fathom why it wouldn't be prosecuted. It's cruel. It's inhumane. You know, we have laws in place to protect us, but the laws are not being implemented. We all want to feel safe in Hawaii.

Not only are the laws in our state not implemented, but they're gross negligence in our judicial system. Like I said, why would you not prosecute these cases? By dismissing the crimes, you allow predators to advance their abuse further, helping them continue to abuse and torture animals. We need stricter laws.

I believe that the crime rate overall will drop significantly if we can maybe possibly change to a class B felony even. Let these people know there are consequences for what you do. You are killing a life. You are torturing a beautiful life.

I just hope that we can work together, that we can stand together and fight this together. It's that important because we know people who hurt animals will more than likely hurt people. We want to prevent that.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next up is Sean Schmidt for Paw Posse Ohana, in support. Savannah Sherman, Animal law section of HSBA, Hawaii State Bar Association, also in support. Lindsay Vierheilig for Animal Legal Defense Fund, in support. Richard Galanto for HHBA, in opposition. Rachelle Terria Alameda, if you're here, please come on up in support. Helen. Oh come on up. Morning.

Sorry, I wasn't prepared to speak because I getting over cold.

Oh, well.

But I wanted to just share some things that I brought.

If you're suffering from a cold, would you mind putting on a mask? And then you come just outside and we'll take you next. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Yeah, I wasn't prepared to speak because I wasn't sure if I was going to be here today, but my name is Rachelle Terria Alameda, and I'm a strong support of this bill. I'm in animal rescue and I will tell you, it's so heartbreaking the things that we see daily.

Just a few days ago, we got an email that I had to open and it's horrible. And this is of an animal that was abused. It's a dog. And I have the police report and I have the Humane Society report here, too. He was decapitated. His paws were cut off. And there are signs of the.

He was turned into VCA. So there were signs of abuse, of long term abuse and suffering. And we deal with this every day, having to comfort them after they've been hit on the head with a pipe. And we have videos and we have witnesses and we have all of these things.

And it's so frustrating, you know, that nothing happens, nothing gets done. People continue to do these things to animals. And it keeps me up at night, it haunts me, you know, like. And I don't, I don't want the animal to die alone, right? So we do it, we go there, we comfort them in their final hours.

And it's just, it's heartbreaking. And I don't understand why people do it, right? We don't, we don't get it. But studies have shown that these types of behaviors lead to other, other more, you know, heinous crimes. They are the gateway to hurting, you know, other populations like our kupuna, our keiki.

I think if there are stronger punishments, it would deter people from even thinking about committing these crimes. I have some photos here if you guys would like to see it. This is just from a few days ago. PCA Kaneohe turned that into us.

Thank you very much. Next is Helen Josie-Penco. Good morning. I probably butchered your name, too. Oh, good.

Good morning, honorable Chairman Rhoads. Over the years, we have seen the horrific acts of animal cruelty within our community. We have heard of the horrendous injuries, maimings, and torture of animals that only look towards humans for care and compassion.

As these repulsive acts occur, our keiki and youth are at our, I'm sorry, are at our side seeing and hearing the same things. The cycle is tragic. Some individuals might appear indifferent to it. Some may only see an animal and not recognize the impact that these vile acts have on our community.

They may not recognize the lasting impact that these brutal acts of cruelty have on our keiki. More importantly, just as the abuse animals have no voice, our keiki have no voice.

And they are more importantly that just as the abused animals have no voice, our keiki who are in an environment and sees these horrific acts may have no voice as well. Children cherish their animals. Their animals bring them happiness, fun time, and joyful memories.

However, when living with an abuser, these moments of happiness and joyful memories change into moments of terror and memories of horror. Their pets and animals they cherish become the abusers tool of choice. These heinous acts of cruelty become the means of making the child do the unthinkable.

As a child's love for their pets is immeasurable, also is a child's innate desire to protect that pet. A child quickly learns that they will do what that abuser wants just to ensure that that pet is not harmed and will do anything that the abuser wants.

They believe if they continue to obey that abuser, the cruelty will stop. But unfortunately, the abuser will ultimately want more. So the cruelty continues. Both the child and the animal continues to suffer. And often they will suffer in silence. Children may not always share.

Thank you. Your time is expired.

What they say and feel, but I ask you to hear their silent voice.

Thank you. Next is Jenny Tu, in support. Next is Gregory Misakian, on Zoom.

Not present on Zoom, Chair.

In support. Chantell Moniz. Oh, I think we got you already. Dogmar Bramer on Zoom.

Also not present on Zoom, Chair.

In support. Tatiana Bertolino on Zoom.

Hello. Hi, My name is Tatiana Bertolino. I'm a social work student at UH and an intern at Kaneohe State Mental Hospital. I'm grateful here, to be here today to offer my support for House Bill 698.

The legislator has recognized in the bill that animal cruelty offenders pose a threat to the health and safety of all members of our communities, especially vulnerable populations. The findings presented in the bill are very concerning to me.

We know that research has shown that animal cruelty is a predictive and cooccurring crime with violence against humans, including children, intimate partner, and elderly. Psychological studies indicate that 70% of violent criminals began by abusing animals. And also children who witness animal abuse are more likely to abuse animals as teenagers and adults.

According to the Honolulu Police Department, animal cruelty crimes rose from 58 in 2018 to 73 in 2023. I feel like this clearly demonstrates that current penalties are insufficient to deter these acts. So HB 698 directly addresses this issue by amending the penalties for various animal cruelty offenses by increasing the category of the offense.

I believe this will send a clear message that animal cruelty will not be tolerated in Hawaii and will be met with more serious consequences. Specifically, the bill proposes that cruelty to animals in the first degree will be elevated from class G to class B felony.

Additionally, those convicted will be prohibited from possessing or owning a pet animal for a minimum of five years. These increased penalties reflect the serious seriousness of animal cruelty and its potential link to other violent crimes.

And by strengthening these laws, we can better protect animals, deter future acts of cruelty, and ultimately contribute to a safer community for everyone. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you very much. Next up is John Kammer III on Zoom or here. Come on up. Good morning.

Yes, good morning. Good morning. I oppose the bill because we have a bill already and why are we making another bill? The, our class C felony is like just an example, like fraud or theft, class B felonies, second degree murder or armed robbery.

We have a bill to help us with the protection of the animals already. And I, I strongly oppose this bill. I don't know what a pet animal is and a real animal is. I'm a farmer and we, we raise our own beef. We eat our own beef.

And I don't know if that's going to be cruelty to animals by me killing my own, my own beef. Yeah. And I raise chickens. I raise ducks, I raise geese. So I, I don't understand. I think the bill is too vague. I think you should be more to the point.

I'm not against the class B felony, class C felony, but I am against them making a class B felony. Thank you very much. Appreciate you listening to me.

Thank you. Next up is Vernon Ling, in support. Okay, that's everybody who signed up to talk. Oh, morning.

Sergeant Ling with the Humane Society.

I'm sorry, you're?

Sergeant Ling with the Humane Society.

Go ahead. I'm sorry.

Yeah. So I'm here today in support of the bill also, too, but I just want to let you know firsthand some of the frustrations that we've had over the past years. In my 23 year career here at the Humane Society, I've submitted tons of animal cruelty cases to court. Frustrations, now, some get prosecuted, a lot of them get dismissed.

Some of them don't even make it into the courtroom. Animal cruelty over the years has gotten worse in my eyes. Some of the cruelty cases that I've had over the years, or most recently is we've had a lot of heinous crimes.

A lot of dogs that have been beaten by their owners, some of them considered to be their service animals, and a lot of them are cases. You know, we had one case involving a woman out in the west side walking her two dogs threw the two dogs over the cliff.

Just thrown over the cliff and walks away with nothing. No, no feelings or nothing. It gets prosecuted, sent to court for prosecution. That case gets dismissed for reasons why, we don't know. Some cases we had dogs kept in a van, about maybe 20 of them packed in a van. We charged this lady with animal cruelty.

This goes on for about a year of continuous, continuous, continuance after continuances, only to find out from the prosecutor's office that the case gets downgraded from animal cruelty to dogs in a park. This lady wasn't even in a park. This lady is parked on a public roadway. Dogs is in just complete mess.

Feces, urine, living in there, cramped in cages, four dogs to one cage. So product charges bringing up, being dismissed. A lot of times that our judges are not taking these cases serious. So I am in strong support this bill that kind of needs as a voice for these animals. I feel that these laws need to be toughened.

Okay, thank you very much. That's everybody who signed up. Who to speak or be on Zoom. Would anyone else like to, anyone else like to testify? Yep. Come on up. Just tell us who you are, that'd be great.

Of course. Good morning, Senator Rhoads, Senator Chang, Senator Awa. I'm with the Disability Communication Access Board. My name is Elizabeth Delovio, testifying on behalf of our Executive Director, Kirby Shaw. We are in support of this measure.

We do want to comment that the HD1 specifically protected service animals as well, and by changing the version of the proposed SD1 to specifically pet animals, would inadvertently exclude service animals, since service animals are not considered pets.

So we would like to encourage an amendment to the proposed SD1 to include criminal penalties for services against or for offenses against service animals. The death or injury of a service animal is not only an emotional and financial hardship, but it significantly disrupts the independence, safety, and daily functioning of individuals who rely on these highly trained animals.

So it can be very expensive as well to replace the injured or deceased animal. So we would just like to encourage that amendment.

Good. Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Anyone else like to testify on HB 698? On Zoom. Okay. Seeing none. Oh, come on up. Good morning.

Morning. My name is Terri Cambra. All of these examples that people have given, and I agree there should be penalties for abuse of animals. But again, this bill, the way it is written, is vague. And you're trying to close loopholes whereby people are getting away with cruelty to animal charges.

And instead, you're making it so vague that you're only creating more loopholes. What defines a pet animal? Who determines that? The law is already there. It's already a class C felony. As I've listened to people today testify, the frustration is with the courts. The frustration is the dismissing of these charges.

They have all this proof, and it's already a class C. If you can't prove a class C, how are you going to prove a class B? I think that there's a better way to address this situation. Do not pass it as written. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else like to testify on HB 698? Come on up. Good morning.

Thank you, Chair and Members of the Senate Committee. My name is Brandy Shimabukuro, and I'm addressing you today not just as an employee with the Hawaiian Humane Society, but as someone who has started off in animal welfare as a volunteer and foster.

I've witnessed the depths of cruelty in my 24 years of dedicating my life to this and the heights of compassion from those who dedicate themselves to rescue, many of whom are in this room today. This bill is about more than protecting animals. It's about protecting our community.

Extensive research, as Stephanie mentioned, shows that animal abuse is a gateway to broader societal violence. When we strengthen our stance against cruelty, we interrupt cycles of abuse and protect our most vulnerable. Hawaii can and must be better than a place that turns a blind eye to suffering. This bill is not about infringing on cultural rights.

It is not about cockfighting. It is not about any other complex debate. This is about protecting those who cannot speak for themselves. And it's about holding perpetrators accountable and affirming that violence against those who cannot defend themselves will not be tolerated.

I stand by my written testimony, but I also want to share with you today a photo of a dog named Akua. He was a big marshmallow of a dog, and he was brought into our care after being reportedly raped by his owner and beaten. And his owner said he was trying to beat the cancer out of him.

That dog was scared of the world. And he ultimately found a loving home after getting surgery to remove the tumors that were riddled through his body.

But the fact of the matter is, is when we oppose this bill, we align ourselves with people who condone what his owner did to him and the thousands of cases that come in every single day to rescue. To the Hawaiian Humane Society, to HPD.

Our community's greatest strength is measured by how we protect those who are most dependent on us. So I respectfully urge you to support this bill. Thank you.

Thank you. Would anyone else like to testify in HB 698? Okay, so the final. Oh, come on up. Good morning.

My name is Dana Gustova. I'd also like to show the photos that Rachelle was trying to show earlier, but I also have here Max. And Max is someone that we have spoken on many a times in situations like this, and we've come to the courts with videos, we've had statements, everything that we've needed to get through to this, and nothing still has come about it.

So I asked, how do we push forward for this? I hear everyone's words. I hear the opposed. And for me personally, I'm here because I'm with Hina's Legacy Rescue Foundation, and we witness firsthand all of these, all of these heinous crimes.

And until you're there, until you're holding an animal in your arms, and I'm going to read a little bit from my testimony, but until you personally pick up an animal that has been beaten, starved, sexually assaulted, you just cannot fully grasp why we are fighting this fight.

If there's something in this bill that needs to change to get this to where it needs to be, how can we do that? What do we need to do? We cannot continue to go down this path and allow these things to happen. It's a strong fight. It's emotional for us, and I just urge you to please pass this bill.

Okay, thank you. Anyone else like to testify? 691.

98.

98. Sorry. Okay. I'll just. Final stats on this bill were 112 in support, 128 in opposition, and with one comment, Although it wasn't always clear from the testimony that people were testifying on the proposed SD1 as opposed to the underlying bill. So what we, what we had put out there for.

What we put out there for consideration was a much narrower bill than the one that came over from the House. So, Members, questions? Yeah. I mean, yeah, go ahead. Senator Awa.

Like, our last test so far. Is there anything that can be done in the bill? The carval section where if you fight chickens, you're not risking 10 years versus five years.

Oh, you're asking me or. Yes. Oh, no, it's already carved out. This is just pets? Yeah, it's the pets. As the pets already have a definition. It's cat, dog, domesticated rabbit, guinea pig, domesticated pig, caged birds, so long as they're not bred for consumption.

Caged birds. Is that. Is that like, birds in your house. Or like caged birds, like, in the yard? Like.

Well, there's different. They actually spell it out passive. Are you still here? Stephanie? Okay. Thank you. All right. Anything else? No. Okay. Could I have a Department of Health back up? I don't know if. Well, you had a Department of Health lanyard on, so I don't know. So I just read what the bill covers.

Now, it's just the definition of pet animals. Those dogs, cats, domesticated rabbits, guinea pigs, domesticated pig, caged birds. And you wanted to include. You're saying that the SD1, the proposed SD1 inadvertently left out support animals.

Correct.

Oh, okay, hang on a second. That sounds very.

Increase it. Also specific to service animal. No, we only dealt with animal 1 and 2, which talked about pet animals, which. I don't need to ask. I haven't looked at that.

So your concern, was it support animals were not covered by the pets?

Correct. Service animals and emotional support animals are not considered pets.

Okay,

So the fear, our fear, with the Disability Communication Access Board, our fear is that service animals and emotional support animals would not be covered in the.

Okay, so that's the distinction. I was looking for support animals or service animals versus emotional support animals.

Correct. Yeah, those are two. I mean, under the. If we're getting into the weeds under the ADA, service animals and emotional support animals are different than pet animals, and they are different from one another as well. So if you want to be super clear, I think that including service animals and emotional support animals would be extraordinarily covering.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right. All right. Thanks very much.

Yes. Thank you.

Other questions?

Yes, Is Attorney General here? Thanks.

Thanks. You can state your name, please.

Oh, yes, Mark Tom, Deputy Attorney General.

Thanks. So, like my concern earlier, when it comes to chicken fighting, I just wanted to be clear on the record. If this passes into law, do chicken fighters face harsher penalties when it comes to jail time?

This one covers. So pet animals.

The SD. The SD.

The proposed, the proposed covers pet animals and cage animals. Doesn't cover. I can follow up for you to be clear and certain, Senator, but from the definition, I don't believe so, but we can follow up and have something in written form for you.

Yeah. That would be helpful for the vote if it does. Because if it does affect, I wouldn't want to be passing something and then we subject our residents to. And this is not, you know, like some of the others. A camera came up. This camera came up.

My concern with, with animals, pet animals is just like everybody else's. But I don't want unintended consequences of, of people doing what they, what they do culturally to get stricter penalties.

Understood.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If you want to testify, I will let you testify. Even though we ended testimony. But that's. I don't know. We, if somebody wants to ask a question. But I.

Okay, I can ask that question back to the Attorney General, please. Deputy Attorney General. You want to shout it out so I can ask it.

What determines a domesticated pig if pig farmer.

Okay. Yeah, so this is called before. Yeah, so, so for, you know, so for ranchers and stuff, would this affect if, if they're raising pig and they slaughter the pig or, or another animal.

Pet animal also says as long as not bred for consumption. So we can follow up for you. As well on this to get further clarification. But for pet animal, domestic pig is included and then the follow up language is as long as also not bred for consumption.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, Members, other questions? Stephanie, do you mind coming back up for the Humane Society? So on the support animal question, I think that's correct that there's, there's a distinction made in legally between the support animals and pets. Do you object to including support animals?

Service animals? No, not at all.

Service animals. Good.

Not at all. We would, we would welcome adding them back into the bill.

Okay. All right, thank you. Okay. Any other questions? If not, I think I will go ahead. There's still a couple of outstanding questions on this. So I think I'm going to defer this until Monday at 10:00am in this room. 016. And that's April, that's March 31st I believe. So this one.

So our first HB 698 will vote on it on Monday at 10. Okay, so we'll go ahead and move into our 1002 agenda. Okay, moving on to the 1002 agenda at 10:37. This is a decision making only agenda. So we'll just be voting. First up is HB 108.

This allows direct shipment of beer and distilled spirits by certain licenses licensees. Requires a liquor Commission to adopt rules after considering the testimony and there's obviously a split in the business community between basically between wholesalers and the I guess microbreweries and distilled spirits people.

And there's also testimony indicating that there's concerns about that this bill may cause a worse drunk driving problem than we already have and encourage or make it easier for underage people to drink. I'm going to go ahead and defer it. All right, moving on to HB226 relating to windshield tinting.

This prohibits a person from installing, mounting, adhering, affixing or using any sunscreening device in conjunction with the glazing material of a motor vehicle with mirrored metallic red, yellow, amber or blue tent. Some other requirements. The recommendation here, it has a bad day, but the recommendation here is to pass unamended questions.

I do have a question currently with the back, the windows all behind you. There is no 35% right limit.

Concern.

That's a good question. Requires all drivers pass from motorhood supplied tent.

This I saw it. Saw in here. It takes it. It now says the back windows essentially. Go back to 35.

That was in prior version, but there's no change. So it still stays at 35% minimum light transmittance levels. The bill doesn't change.

Okay, so the bill does not change that this version.

Prior version. The prior version did, yes. But this is not okay. It was taken out at the transportation.

So again, just for clarity here, anybody with tinted windows in the back, we. Pass this, they're not going to have. To remove their tint, right? No, it's not going to change.

I don't know that.

It depends.

It depends on what their tent right now. You can, you can make it legal now. It's still. I wish we had. If we have a police officer. If it's. If it's legal now and it would still be legal. Okay, but that's this version. There's no guarantee that this will be the final version.

Okay. Okay on that. Okay.

Any other questions or concerns? If not, thank you, Senator Chang, for acting as Vice Chair.

[Roll call]

No. Thank you. Next up is HB. I'm sorry. Thank you. Next up is HB 277 establishes a vehicle pursuit policy for law enforcement agencies. Again has a bad date. Recommendation here is to pass with some amendments do have prior concurrence from both previous chairs. Find them. Okay.

So we'll delay implementation of Section 2 regarding the establishment of a vehicular pursuit policy and related requirements until 07-01-2027. This is to allow the law enforcement standards for time to work on the issue regarding the public nature of law enforcement agencies.

Vehicular pursuit policies will amend the language governing redaction of agencies vehicular pursuit policies by specifying that redaction of the policy is permitted if it would be permitted under Chapter 92F and deleting the additional criteria in subsection JJ on page 10.

This will mean that the default disclosure standards apply to vehicular pursuit policies and we'll leave the bad date questions or concerns if not center Chang recommendation for HB277 is to pass with amendments of the Members present.

Noted the excusable Senator Gabard. Are there any objections or reservations?

No.

Noting objections from Senator Awad. The recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. Next step. Next up is HB511. This is relating to public lands. Provides that a survey of the land that be set aside shall not be a condition precedent to the setting aside of public lands to any Department or agency of the state. The recommendation here is to pass unamended questions or concerns.

If not center Chang Recommendation for HB 511 is unamended. Members present. Are there any objections or reservations Seeing down the rec.

Sorry. Go to that.

Senator Noting Senator Aw Objection. The recommendation is adopted.

I'm sorry. We'll answer afterwards but right now we're in the middle of voting so. But I'll be happy to answer your question afterwards.

Thank you for 511 I'd like to be sorry.

Reservations.

Is that where we are? Public lands? Y yeah. Saying that no survey is needed. I'm going to go with reservations.

Noting Senator San Buenaventura's reservations. The recommendation is.

Thank you. Next up is HB958. This prohibits individuals under 15 years of age from riding a class 3 electric bicycle. Amends the age requirement for helmet use from changes from 16 to 18. Allows use of electric bicycles on public sidewalks subject to certain conditions. And there are some other things that it does as well.

I'm going to defer this one. Not because I have any objection to any of it but the SB the Senate version is moving and I think we better just double check.

Double check.

Passed out of Finance yesterday so we'll just let that one come over.

Next is HB1098 relating to crimes against protective service workers specifies an intentionally or knowingly causing bodily injured to a protective service worker who engaged in the performance of the workers duties constitute the cleft offensive assault in the second degree which is classic felony and it clarifies that a protective service worker is a public servant for the purpose of terroristic threatening and the recommendation here is to pass unamended.

I'd like to note in the Committee report that consideration should be given to include protective service persons who are employed by an agency contracted by DHS but I will make no attempt to change that.

So unamended questions or concerns if not Senator Chang Chair's recommendation for HB 1098 pass unamended if the numbers present. Are there any objections or reservations? No, nothing. Objections from Senator Awad and recommendations adopted.

All right, thanks very much. That concludes our business.

Thank you for being here.