Public Conduct in Hawaii County, HI (2026)
7 rules for unincorporated Hawaii County, Hawaii.
Verified from official government sources
Aggressive Panhandling
Hawaii County outlaws entering a roadway, obstructing traffic, or approaching moving vehicles to solicit money, business, employment, goods or services, or to offer them to a stopped car's occupant. A 2025 amendment set escalating fines from $250 up to $1,000 plus mandatory community service, while protecting sidewalk activity and sign-holding that doesn't block traffic.
Roadway Panhandling Rules on Big Island
Heavy RestrictionsHawaii County Code § 24-249
Section 24-249. Certain acts by pedestrians prohibited. (a) No person may enter a roadway, obstruct traffic, or approach moving vehicles for the purpose of: (1) Receiving or soliciting employment, business, or any other good or service from the occupant of any vehicle, unless the vehicle is legally stopped; or (2) Delivering or offering any employment, business, or other good or service to the ...
Public Urination
Hawai'i County bans urinating or defecating anywhere in a county park except at a restroom or comfort station provided for that purpose, under HCC §15-30(g). The one carve-out is backcountry, wilderness, or other remote park areas without facilities; everywhere else, including developed beach parks and picnic grounds, the ban applies in full.
Public Urination Rules in Hawai'i County Parks
Some RestrictionsHawai'i County Code § 15-30(f)-(g)
(f) Depositing any body waste in or on any portion of any comfort station or other public structure except into fixtures provided for that purpose is prohibited. Placing any bottle, can, cloth, rag, metal, wood, or stone substances in any of the plumbing fixtures in such station or structure is prohibited. All comfort stations shall be used in a clean, sanitary, and orderly manner. (g) Urinatin...
Skateboarding Rules
Skateboards and roller skates are banned in Hawai'i County parks except where the parks director has posted a sign designating a specific area for them, under HCC §15-31. There is no application process to open up a new spot; it happens only when the county itself marks a skate park, path, or court as legal.
Skateboarding Rules in Hawai'i County Parks
Significant RestrictionsHawai'i County Code § 15-31
Section 15-31. Skating and skateboards restricted. The use of roller skates and skateboards is prohibited except in locations designated by the director by the posting of appropriate signs.
Loitering Rules
Hawaii County makes it a crime to loiter, loaf, or idle on any public highway, sidewalk, beach, or coastal area once a tsunami warning is issued and for as long as one remains in effect, or during and right after a tsunami strikes. Section 7-2-1 also punishes anyone who disobeys a police officer's traffic order or refuses to leave when ordered to evacuate.
Tsunami Loitering Law in Hawaii County
Significant RestrictionsHawaii County Code § 7-2-1
A person commits the offense of loitering during an emergency if during a tsunami warning period, or during and immediately after a tsunami that person knowingly: (1) Loiters, loafs, or idles upon any public highway, public place, sidewalk, or beach, on foot or on any vehicle, in any coastal area, or area subject to tsunami action. (2) Disobeys any direction or command of any police officer dir...
Outdoor Smoking Restrictions
Hawai'i County's smoking ban reaches outdoors too: it covers open-air restaurant and bowling-alley seating where food is served, a twenty-foot buffer around any building entrance or air intake, and every County park and recreational facility, under HCC §14-21. Fines run $25 to $50 per violation under §14-24.
Outdoor Smoking Restrictions in Hawaii County
Significant RestrictionsHawai'i County Code §§ 14-21, 14-24
Section 14-21(a)(2): Restaurants and bowling alleys. If a restaurant or bowling alley contains an outdoor, open air or partially enclosed seating area where food and beverages are served, smoking is prohibited in this area of the establishment. (14) Smoking or the use of electronic smoking devices is prohibited within a presumptively reasonable minimum distance of twenty feet from any entrance ...
Jaywalking
Hawaii County bans crossing any roadway segment the county has designated "closed to pedestrian traffic" except at a marked crosswalk, over a pedestrian overpass, or through a pedestrian tunnel. The ban only reaches segments the council actually lists in schedule 26; it is not a blanket jaywalking law for every street on the Big Island.
Jaywalking Rules on Hawaii Island
Some RestrictionsHawaii County Code § 24-248
Section 24-248. Roadways closed to pedestrian traffic. (a) No pedestrian shall enter upon or cross any roadway or portion of any roadway designated by ordinance as closed to pedestrian traffic, except within an authorized marked crosswalk, or upon a pedestrian overpass, or through a pedestrian tunnel. (b) The areas designated in schedule 26, section 24-278 are closed to pedestrian traffic.
Public Alcohol Use
Hawai'i County bans drinking or even displaying intoxicating liquor in public view on highways, sidewalks, parking lots, school grounds, and most public parks under HCC §14-1. A violation is a petty misdemeanor under §14-6, carrying up to 30 days in jail, a $1,000 fine, or both.
Open Container Ban in Hawaii County
Significant RestrictionsHawai'i County Code §§ 14-1, 14-6
Section 14-1(a): No person shall drink, offer to drink, or display in public view in the following public areas or buildings located thereon, any intoxicating liquors, whether in a bottle, jug, container or otherwise: (1) Public highways and public rights-of-way, public sidewalks, public breakwaters and public seawalls, except seawalls in parks where drinking is not prohibited; (2) Public parki...
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