STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3063

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3010

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 3010, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ANIMAL ENDANGERMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Allow law enforcement officers, animal control officers, and firefighters to enter an unattended vehicle to protect the health, safety, or well-being of a pet animal that is endangered by being left or confined in an unattended vehicle; and

(2) Allow private citizens to rescue a pet animal that has been left in an unattended vehicle under certain circumstances.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Animal Rights Hawaiʻi and four individuals.

Your Committee finds that nationally, hundreds of pet animals tragically die each year of heat stroke as a result of being left in parked vehicles that quickly reach extreme temperatures. This risk is higher in the State due to its hotter year-round temperatures. Concerned citizens aware of the deadly risk to these pets often hesitate to take life-saving actions for fear of civil or criminal liability. This measure will align the State with sixteen other states that have enacted "Good Samaritan" laws to help prevent unnecessary animal deaths.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3010, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3010, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair