HONOLULU — A bill making it a misdemeanor to lie to government investigators or inspectors during building inspections won approval from both houses of the Hawaii Legislature.
Tyler Dos Santos-Tam of HI Good Neighbor, which was formed to combat large-scale, or “monster,” houses, praised the bill as another “key enforcement tool” against unscrupulous owners and contractors seeking to hide the intent of their structures, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported on Monday.
The bill’s language makes it a misdemeanor to “knowingly make a false statement in written, printed, electronic, or oral form, to a state investigator or a county inspector during an investigation into compliance with any state law, rule, or regulation or any county ordinance, rule, or regulation.”
People convicted of the criminal misdemeanor could spend up to a year in jail and face fines of up to $2,000.
The bill is now awaiting action from Hawaii Gov. David Ige.