Investigators are still trying to understand the fatal fireworks explosion in the Aliamanu area that left three women dead and over two dozen others injured at a New Year’s Eve celebration.
At a news conference Wednesday, both the mayor and the governor pledged to do more to deter the sale of illegal aerials. Mayor Rick Blangiardi called the situation a systemic problem.
Gov. Josh Green said rather than an all-out ban, he would first look at increasing penalties for possession of illegal aerials.
Rep. Della Au Belatti, chair of the House Public Safety Committee, said, "I would also say that criminalizing those folks who just possess it is not really stopping the problem, and we can't fill up our jail cells with the people again. If you look on New Year's Eve at the numbers of individuals and communities where this has become the norm, we need to change that norm."
As the new head of the House Public Safety Committee, Belatti plans to further examine the state's illegal fireworks laws.
"One of my concerns would be that we may already have the laws in place, and so it's a matter of enforcement and ensuring that the department has the resources to proactively stem the flow and break up the trade that's coming into the state regarding consumer fireworks that are obviously illegal," she said.
An Illegal Fireworks Task Force was established in 2023 to try to identify and disrupt the supply chain for illegal fireworks. In December 2023, the task force seized 34,000 pounds of illegal fireworks from a shipping container.
"I think in the coming days, weeks and months, as we go through the legislative process, I think we need to drill down more on what has been the progress that the task force has gotten through, and see in what ways we can better collaborate with all of the enforcement agencies that can be a part of this," Belatti said.
She said that the state needs help from federal agencies to stop illegal fireworks from coming into the marketplace.
"It is tragic. It's terrible. I hope it doesn't take more tragedies for us to do something. So I'm hoping to work with my colleagues, and there seems to be a lot of sentiment," Belatti told HPR.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Jan. 2, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
