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HB523 • 2026

RELATING TO THEFT.

RELATING TO THEFT.

Crime Small Business
Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
WARD, GARCIA, REYES ODA, SHIMIZU
Last action
2025-12-08
Official status
Carried over to 2026 Regular Session.
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary and text do not provide specific details about the penalties or sentencing changes beyond classifying certain thefts as second-degree offenses.

Making Repeat Small Theft a Serious Crime

This bill makes it a more serious crime to steal property or services worth up to $750 if the person has been convicted of theft two or more times in the past five years.

What This Bill Does

  • Changes the law so that stealing something worth up to $750 is considered a second-degree theft if the person was previously convicted of any type of theft within the last five years.

Who It Names or Affects

  • People who steal property or services worth up to $750 and have been convicted of theft before within the last five years.
  • Courts that will now treat these repeat small thefts as more serious crimes.

Terms To Know

Second-degree theft
A type of stealing that is less severe than first-degree theft but more serious than petty theft, especially if it involves a repeat offender.
Conviction
When someone is found guilty by a court for breaking the law.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not change how other types of theft are treated.
  • It only affects people who have been caught stealing before within the last five years.

Bill History

  1. 2025-12-08 D

    Carried over to 2026 Regular Session.

  2. 2025-01-21 H

    Referred to JHA, referral sheet 2

  3. 2025-01-21 H

    Introduced and Pass First Reading.

  4. 2025-01-17 H

    Pending introduction.

Official Summary Text

RELATING TO THEFT.
Small Business Caucus Package; Penal Code; Theft; Penalties
Provides that a person who commits theft of property or services the value of which does not exceed $750, commits theft in the second degree if the person was convicted two or more times for any theft offenses in the five years prior to the current offense.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HB523

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

523

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING
TO THEFT
.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

����
SECTION
1
.
�
Section 708-831, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended to read as follows:

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"
�708-831
�

Theft in the second degree.
�

(1)
�
A person commits the offense
of theft in the second degree if the person
commits
theft of:

����
(a)
�
Property from the
person of another;

����
(b)
�
Property or
services the value of which exceeds $750;

����
(c)
�
An aquacultural
product or part thereof from premises that are fenced or enclosed in a manner
designed to exclude intruders or there is prominently displayed on the premises
a sign or signs sufficient to give notice and reading as follows:
�
"Private Property", "No
Trespassing", or a substantially similar message;

����
(d)
�
Agricultural
equipment, supplies, or products, or part thereof, the value of which exceeds
$100 but does not exceed $20,000, or of agricultural products that exceed
twenty-five pounds, from premises that are fenced, enclosed, or secured in a
manner designed to exclude intruders or where there is prominently displayed on
the premises a sign or signs sufficient to give notice and reading as follows:
�
"Private Property", "No
Trespassing", or a substantially similar message; or if at the point of
entry of the premises, a crop is visible.
�

The sign or signs, containing letters no less than two inches in height,
shall be placed along the boundary line of the land in a manner and in such a
position as to be clearly noticeable from outside the boundary line.
�
Possession of agricultural products without
ownership and movement certificates, when a certificate is required pursuant to
chapter 145, is prima facie evidence that the products are or have been stolen;

����
(e)
�
Agricultural
commodities that are generally known to be marketed for commercial
purposes.
�
Possession of agricultural
commodities without ownership and movement certificates, when a certificate is
required pursuant to section 145-22, is prima facie evidence that the products
are or have been stolen; provided that "agricultural commodities" has
the same meaning as in section 145-21;

����
(f)
�
Property commonly
used to store items of monetary value, including but not limited to any purse,
handbag, or wallet;

����
(g)
�
Property or
services, the value of which exceeds $250, from a person who is sixty years of
age or older and the age of the property owner is known or reasonably should be
known to the person who commits theft; or

����
(h)
�
An electric gun as
defined in section 134-81.

����
(2)
�

Notwithstanding subsection (1)(b), a person who commits theft of property
or services, the value of which does not exceed $750, commits theft in the
second degree if the person was convicted two or more times for any theft
offenses in the five years prior to the current offense.

����
[
(2)
]
(3)
�
Theft in the second degree is a class C
felony.
�
A person convicted of committing
the offense of theft in the second degree under subsection (1)(c) and (d) shall
be sentenced in accordance with chapter 706, except that for the first offense,
the court may impose a minimum sentence of a fine of at least $1,000 or two-fold
damages sustained by the victim, whichever is greater."

����
SECTION
2.
�
This Act does not affect rights and
duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were
begun before its effective date.

����
SECTION
3.
�
Statutory material to be repealed is
bracketed and stricken.
�
New statutory
material is underscored.

����
SECTION 4.
�
This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Small
Business Caucus Package; Penal Code; Theft; Penalties

Description:

Provides
that a person who commits theft of property or services the value of which does
not exceed $750, commits theft in the second degree if the person was convicted
two or more times for any theft offenses in the five years prior to the current
offense.

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not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.