Hawaii Bill To Speed Marijuana Record Expungements Process Heads To Governor’s Desk

Lawmakers in Hawaii last week sent a bill to the governor that would help speed the expungement process for people hoping to clear their records of past marijuana-related offenses.

The measure, HB 132, from Rep. David Tarnas (D), would expedite expungements happening through a pilot program signed into law last year by Gov. Josh Green (D). The state Senate approved it last week on a 21–1 vote following passage without opposition in the House in late February.

As of mid-December of last year, the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center (HCJDC) had reviewed 640 cases and issued 81 expungements under the pilot program, according to the advocacy group Last Prisoner Project (LPP), with 112 cases pending expungement and 414 cases still under review.

LPP explained in a post about HB 132 that a technical issue has made implementation of the expungement pilot program “more burdensome than expected.”

Specifically, records don’t “consistently specify” whether offenses are for marijuana or other Schedule V substances under state law, the post says. “This lack of detail forces HCJDC staff to manually search through arrest and court records, significantly slowing the process.”

HB 132 would address that by removing the distinction between marijuana and other Schedule V drugs for the purposes of the expungement program.

Green’s potential signing of the legislature-approved measure into law, LPP said, would “eliminate the need for extensive manual searches and ensure that more people receive the relief they deserve without unnecessary delays.”

“Expunging non-conviction cannabis-related arrest records is not just about clearing data from government databases—it’s about removing barriers to employment, housing, and other opportunities that so many individuals struggle with due to the collateral consequences of their records,” the group wrote.

The governor approved the expungement pilot program legislation—HB 1596, also from Tarnas—last year. Its goal was to expunge non-conviction marijuana arrest records solely in Hawaii County, home to about 14 percent of the state’s population. The county comprises the Big Island and is the state’s second most populous after Honolulu County.

As originally introduced, the measure would have directed state officials to automatically expunge tens of thousands of arrest and conviction records for low-level marijuana possession. But the Senate Judiciary Committee later amended the proposal, replacing the statewide plan with a pilot program in Hawaii County that would apply only to non-conviction arrest records.

Adrian Rocha, director of policy for LPP, urged Green “to swiftly sign HB 132 into law.”

In a statement to Marijuana Moment, Rocha said the law’s enactment would “help further streamline the state-initiated expungement process created by HB 1595 (Act 62) and ensure thousands of cannabis-related criminal records are cleared.”

“Since 2021, LPP has worked in Hawai’i to ensure that retroactive relief is provided for those who have been criminalized by cannabis prohibition,” Rocha said. “This legislative session has been rough for cannabis-related issues, but we are glad to see the legislature continue to support retroactive relief measures.”

Rocha also thanked Tarnas’s for his leadership and said the group would “continue to use LPP’s appointment to the Clean Slate Task Force to develop a robust record clearance program that builds on the success of these two bills.”

That task force was created by a separate bill sponsored by Tarnas, which was signed law by Green last year. Though the legislation did not explicitly mention cannabis, marijuana-related offenses were widely expected to be included in the task force’s discussions, and organizations—like LPP—named as members had been involved in past cannabis legislation.

—
Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.

Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—

Separately in Hawaii this session, a pair of Senate committees recently advanced a medical cannabis bill that would allow healthcare providers to recommend marijuana for any debilitating condition they believe is “appropriate” for the treatment.

The move to allow healthcare providers to recommend medical cannabis to patients for any condition they see fit is in line with a plan announced last year by Gov. Josh Green (D) to expand access to marijuana in light of the legislature’s failure to pass recreational legalization measures.

The House Health Committee also recently amended and passed a Senate-approved bill to support clinical research on psychedelic-assisted therapies using substances such as psilocybin and MDMA. The panel first adopted a handful of changes suggested by the Office of Wellness and Resilience, most notably replacing a special fund with a two-year pilot program.

Separately, in February the Senate narrowly defeated a separate proposal that would have increased fivefold the amount of cannabis that a person could possess without risk of criminal charges. Had the measure become law, it would have increased the amount of cannabis decriminalized in Hawaii from the current 3 grams up to 15 grams. Possession of any amount of marijuana up to that 15-gram limit would have been classified as a civil violation, punishable by a fine of $130.

The House Committee on Labor in January unanimously voted to advance legislation that would protect state-registered medical marijuana patients from discrimination in the workplace. That bill, HB 325, has not yet been taken up in the Senate.

Another Senate bill that would have legalized marijuana for adults recently stalled for the session. That measure, SB 1613, had yet to make it out of its current committee despite a legislative deadline in February.

While advocates feel there’s sufficient support for the legalization proposal in the Senate, it’s widely believed that House lawmakers would ultimately scuttle the measure, as they did with a legalization companion bill, HB 1246.

Last session, a Senate-passed legalization bill also fizzled out in the House.

This past fall, regulators solicited proposals to assess the state’s current medical marijuana program—and also sought to estimate demand for recreational sales if the state eventually moves forward with adult-use legalization. Some read the move as a sign the regulatory agency saw a need to prepare to the potential reform.

Police Drug Enforcement Operations Increase Risk Of Overdose Deaths, American Medical Association-Published Study Finds