STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1063-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1481

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1481, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN REMAINS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require any cemetery, crematory, funeral establishment, hydrolysis facility, or mortuary to dispose of the remains of a dead human body no later than sixty days from the date a burial-transit permit has been issued or from the date an affidavit for an amendment of the burial-transit permit has been submitted.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; Hawaii Funeral & Cemetery Association, Inc.; Hawaiian Memorial Life Plan, Inc.; Ballard Mortuary, Inc.; Dodo Mortuary, Inc. & Crematory; and Hosoi Garden Mortuary. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Medical Examiner of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committee finds that the existing burial-transit permit requirements for the disposition of a decedent requires the applicant to provide a specific date and location where the burial or cremation must occur. This rigid specificity provides little flexibility during a family's period of grief, when the ability to coordinate schedules and obtain all necessary next-of-kin signatures is especially challenging. This measure offers flexibility to families and diminishes the administrative burden of funeral homes and related establishments, while still maintaining the integrity of the recordation of vital records, by allowing for the disposition to occur within sixty days of the issuance of a permit.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the sixty-day period begins from the date on which the burial-transit permit is issued or the date of an affidavit for amendment of the permit is submitted, whichever is later; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1481, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1481, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair