Folks hoping to ring in 2015 by setting off sparklers and fountains on New Year’s Eve may yet get the chance to do so.

Bill 5, allowing for those items to be legal at New Year’s for adults with fireworks permits, has been resurrected and will be heard by the Honolulu City Council’s Public Safety and Economic Development Committee at its meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Fireworks is a touchy issue in Hawaii, with supporters who argue that they are an integral part of the island’s unique cultural mix clashing with those who feel they are a safety hazard and respiratory health concern.

Sparklers, fountains and other types of novelty fireworks were banned on Oahu starting in 2012. Only standard "red" firecrackers are available to consumers for New Year’s, Independence Day and religious ceremonies that traditionally incorporate them.

Consumers, however, must first obtain permits from the city. Each $25 permit entitles them to buy up to 5,000 firecrackers.

The measure that would again allow sparklers and fountains, introduced by Council members Ikaika Anderson and Ann Kobayashi, would allow the holder of the same $25 permit to purchase up to 160 sparklers and fountains.

The bill was deferred Feb. 25, ostensibly to deal with language flaws.

Council Public Safety Chairwoman Carol Fukunaga said those issues have now been resolved in a new draft she’s introducing. The new draft also includes two key changes designed to make the bill more palatable to opponents. Specifically:

» Restricting each adult to purchasing only one permit per holiday.

» Allowing only sparklers described as basic "gold"sparklers, which presumably contain fewer onerous materials than sparklers that emit other colors.

"We thought we would put those forward and give people a chance to comment on them,"Fukunaga said Friday.

The Honolulu Fire and Police departments have historically advocated a complete ban on all consumer fireworks, including firecrackers.

Fire Battalion Chief Terry Seelig, head of the department’s Fire Prevention Bureau, said Oahu’s population has grown to the point where the use of consumer fireworks poses far too many risks not found on other Hawaii islands or mainland jurisdictions.

But University of Hawaii student TaraMarie Panoke, who initiated an online petition calling on the Council to once again allow sparklers and fountains, said she’s pleased the bill has been resuscitated. Her petition, at www.honolulufireworks.com, had collected 1,336 electronic signatures as of Friday evening.

She’d rather the bill not limit the number of permits people can buy but considers the measure a good first step.

Panoke said her family has traditionally held New Year’s celebrations at their Waianae home that have included an array of fountains and sparklers, as well as firecrackers.

The first year of the ban, the family bought hobby store rockets and attached LED lights to them to simulate fountains, she said, and also dropped Mentos candy into soda to watch the mixture shoot into the air.

Anderson said he’s pleased the bill is being heard in committee again. He said he does not support limiting the number of permits, but is willing to consider it. He said he instead prefers allowing the additional fireworks only on New Year’s, and not Independence Day, as a compromise position.

"It would allow for a little bit more smoke and noise, but it would be extremely limited,"Anderson said.

Firecracker permits surged past 11,000 for the New Year’s 2014 celebration, an increase of more than 25 percent from 2013.

About 1,600 of roughly 11,000 permits issued went unused because only a few Oahu retailers chose to carry firecrackers, leading to a number of disgruntled permit holders.

Bill 5, in response, also carries a provision allowing consumers to get a refund for unused permits within 30 days of their purchase.

Meanwhile, there are only two retail locations that obtained licenses to sell firecrackers for this Independence Day. Seelig said those are the Bo Wah Trading Co. in Chinatown and the new Longs Drugs location in Makiki. Longs management, however, indicated to both Seelig and KHON-2 TVthat it was not intending to sell firecrackers for the Independence Day celebration.

It’s too late for other retailers to obtain licenses because they must be obtained 20 days before sales can begin, Seelig said. Consumers must obtain firecracker permits, available at satellite city halls (but not Oahu fire stations), no later than 10 days before the day they are to be set off. Retailers can begin selling firecrackers five days before the day they are to be used.