Bill Text: HI HB2271 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Dangerous Weapons; Explosives; Dry Ice Bombs

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-03-23 - (S) The committee on JGO deferred the measure. [HB2271 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-HB2271-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2732

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2271

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2271, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EXPLOSIVES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this Act is to prohibit the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, or transporting of dry ice bombs.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from two private entities, and six individuals.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     A dry ice bomb is a simple bomb-like device.  While the simplicity and ease of construction, high bursting pressure and loud sound make this dry ice activity appealing for recreational purposes, it can be unpredictable and dangerous, and has led to many injuries.  A dry ice bomb is made from a container typically a plastic bottle, water, and dry ice.  The bottle is filled about quarter full of water, some dry ice is added, and the container shut tightly.  As the solid carbon dioxide warms inside a bottle, it sublimates to a gas.  The pressure inside the bottle increases as the quantity of gas increases with limited room to expand.  Bombs will typically rupture within 30 seconds to 30 minutes, dependent largely on the temperature of the air outside the bottle.  

     Your Committee finds that dry ice bombs are most commonly used to simply make a gigantically loud blast, as happened with noticeable frequency last New Year's Eve.  Depending on the size of the container and the amount of dry ice used, dry ice bombs can produce dangerous and potentially hazardous plastic shrapnel.  Your Committee further finds that the public health, safety, and welfare necessitates that dry ice bombs be prohibited.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Amending the definition of "dry ice bomb" to delete references to a chemical reaction because a dry ice bomb explodes from a physical change produced when solid carbon dioxide warms and transitions to a gas phase, rather than from a chemical reaction; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2271, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2271, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs,

 

		____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair