A Honolulu City Council committee has lit the fuse on a proposed fireworks bill.

Bill 22, if adopted, will allow some currently banned “consumer fireworks” — specifically, ground-level fountains and sparklers — to be legally sold to those with permits, during designated periods like New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July.

In spite of government seizures to quash illegal fireworks on Oahu, the Council’s Committee on Public Safety voted Thursday to recommend approval of Bill 22.

The full Council is now expected to take a third and final vote on the measure in October.

Introduced by Council member Calvin Say, Bill 22 seeks to amend the fire code to permit consumer fireworks that also commonly include firecrackers.

If passed, the measure will also establish requirements relating to retailers and sites licensed to import, store and sell display fireworks or firecrackers, the bill states.

The bill, however, would keep aerial fireworks illegal.

Currently, the possession and use of fountains, sparklers, aerial fireworks and other consumer fireworks are not legally permitted on Oahu. A firecracker permit and valid identification are also required to purchase and use firecrackers. A person must be at least 18 years old to obtain a firecracker permit.

But Bill 22 has gained support from the business community.

TNT Fireworks, which claims to be the largest distributor of fireworks in the United States and an importer and seller of legal consumer fireworks in Hawaii for over 50 years, is among the measure’s chief proponents.

Tina Yamaki, Retail Merchants of Hawaii president, also backs Bill 22.

“It actually allows fireworks, such as the pop-pop fireworks and sparklers, and continues to maintain the ban on illegal aerials, bombs and those types of fireworks,” she told the committee.

She also noted, “Firecrackers hold a profound cultural experience especially within the Chinese, Japanese and Filipino communities in Hawaii.”

“Users of firecrackers during festival holidays bring people together, especially families, friends and neighbors,” she said. “The sale of consumer fireworks, like firecrackers and sparklers, contribute significantly to the local economy. Prior to the ban, retailers, distributors and small businesses used to see substantial increase in revenue during festive seasons.”

Yamaki claimed retailers do not sell illegal fireworks.

“They’re usually from the black market,” she said. “It’s not like you can go into your store and say, ‘Hey, I want aerials.’ They don’t sell it like that.”

Others continue crackdowns on illegal fireworks.

That includes the state Department of Law Enforcement’s efforts to seize illegal aerial fireworks and other assorted, unlawful explosives at Hawaii’s harbors and piers.

Established in June 2023, DLE’s Illegal Fireworks Task Force, composed of county police officers, state narcotics agents, deputy sheriffs and federal agencies including Homeland Security Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, has worked to impound thousands of pounds of contraband fireworks.

HFD, which works with the state, also rejects Bill 22.

“The last time consumer fireworks were legal was 2010,” HFD Battalion Chief Jean-Claude Bisch told the Council in June with regard to the measure. “On New Year’s Eve of 2010, we had seven structure fires. On New Year’s Eve of 2011, we had zero structure fires.”

At Thursday’s meeting HFD Assistant Chief Craig Uchimura repeated the department’s stance against the measure.

He noted Gov. Josh Green recently signed House Bill 2193 into law.

That ordinance now authorizes law enforcement and fire officers to enter and inspect any licensee or permittee’s premises, under certain conditions, to verify compliance with the state’s fireworks control law.

But Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, who’d vote for Bill 22, questioned HFD on the city’s efforts to end illegal fireworks.

“What are some of the ways that HFD as well as HPD currently are able to go after these folks, and what can we as a Council do to make it easier to actually enforce and stop these people from waking everyone up at 2 in the morning?” he asked.

Uchimura replied that HFD continues to work with the state’s Illegal Fireworks Task Force, noting that “to date, they’ve seized more than 200,000 pounds of illegal fireworks.”

“So what we would like to request is to give them a little bit more time to see how that plays out with all of these illegal aerials that are going off,” he said. “So they confiscate it, they’re held in a secured storage area and they’re looking at prosecuting (offenders).”

He added that House Bill 2193 allows law enforcement to inspect records of all fireworks shipments.

“So we’re working … to kind of collaborate statewide so that we can track the shipments coming in, where it’s going to go, where it’s stored, when the wholesalers and retailers sell it; and so we’re trying to get that database together,” Uchimura said.

Believing the city’s effort to curb illegal fireworks to be futile, Council member Andria Tupola said she also supports Bill 22.

“The fireworks ban is not working. Waipahu — lit up, favorite place for everyone to watch,” she said. “And I do think at this point we’d be delusional to think that continuing along this path is going to equal something.”

However, she added, “I do not discourage the current fireworks team that has been put together on the state’s side.”

“But I think at this point we have to do something different and see if this is going to help, so that we can discourage the aerials, the illegals, the black market,” said Tupola. “And if it doesn’t, we can always revisit it. But again, we’re trying to find a legal, responsible, safe way to do it, and I think this is it.”

Say, the introducer of the measure, did not attend the meeting.