REPORT TITLE:
Motor Carriers


DESCRIPTION:
Requires common carriers by motor vehicle to have a tax clearance
to maintain their certificates of public convenience and
necessity.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        1774
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO MOTOR CARRIERS.



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

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 271-25, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended to read as follows:
 
 3      "§271-25  Accounts, records, and reports.(a)  The public
 
 4 utilities commission may require annual, periodical, or special
 
 5 reports from all motor carriers, prescribe the manner and form in
 
 6 which the reports shall be made, and require from the carriers
 
 7 specific and full, true, and correct answers to all questions
 
 8 upon which the commission may deem information to be necessary.
 
 9 The annual reports shall give an account of the affairs of the
 
10 carrier in such form and detail as may be prescribed by the
 
11 commission.  The commission may also require any motor carrier to
 
12 file with it a true copy of any contract, agreement, or
 
13 arrangement between the carrier and any other carrier or person
 
14 in relation to any traffic affected by this chapter.  The
 
15 commission shall not, however, make public any contract,
 
16 agreement, or arrangement between a contract carrier by motor
 
17 vehicle and a shipper, or any of the terms or conditions thereof,
 
18 except as a part of the record in a formal proceeding where it
 
19 considers the action consistent with the public interest;
 

 
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 1 provided that if it appears from an examination of any [such]
 
 2 contract that it fails to conform to the published schedule of
 
 3 the contract carrier by motor vehicle as required by section
 
 4 271-22(a), the commission [may], in its discretion, may make
 
 5 public [such] any of the provisions of the contract [as] that the
 
 6 commission considers necessary to disclose [such] the failure and
 
 7 the extent thereof.
 
 8      (b)  The annual reports shall contain all the required
 
 9 information for the period of twelve months ending on December 31
 
10 in each year, unless the commission shall specify a different
 
11 date, and shall be made out under oath and filed with the
 
12 commission within three months after the close of the year for
 
13 which the report is made, unless additional time be granted in
 
14 any case by the commission.  Such periodical or special reports
 
15 as may be required by the commission under subsection (a) shall
 
16 also be under oath, whenever the commission so requires.
 
17      (c)  The commission may prescribe for motor carriers the
 
18 classes of property for which depreciation charges may properly
 
19 be included under operating expenses, and the rate or rates of
 
20 depreciation which shall be charged with respect to each of the
 
21 classes of property, classifying the carriers as it may deem
 
22 proper for this purpose.  The commission [may], when it deems
 
23 necessary, may modify the classes and rates so prescribed.  When
 

 
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 1 the commission shall have exercised its authority under the
 
 2 foregoing provisions of this subsection, motor carriers shall not
 
 3 charge to operating expenses any depreciation charges on classes
 
 4 of property other than those prescribed by the commission, or
 
 5 charge with respect to any class of property a rate of
 
 6 depreciation other than that prescribed therefor by the
 
 7 commission, and no carrier shall include under operating expenses
 
 8 any depreciation charge in any form other than as prescribed by
 
 9 the commission.
 
10      (d)  The commission [may], in its discretion, may prescribe
 
11 the forms of any and all accounts, records, and memoranda to be
 
12 kept by motor carriers and lessors, including the accounts,
 
13 records, and memoranda of the movement of traffic, as well as of
 
14 the receipts and expenditures of moneys.  The commission may
 
15 issue orders specifying the operating, accounting, or financial
 
16 papers, records, books, blanks, tickets, stubs, correspondence,
 
17 or documents of motor carriers or lessors as may after a
 
18 reasonable time be destroyed, and prescribing the length of time
 
19 the same shall be preserved.  The commission or its duly
 
20 authorized special agents, accountants, or examiners shall at all
 
21 times have access to and authority, under its order, to inspect
 
22 and examine any and all lands, buildings, or equipment of motor
 
23 carriers and lessors and [shall have authority to] may inspect
 

 
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 1 and copy any and all accounts, books, records, memoranda,
 
 2 correspondence, and other documents of carriers and lessors (as
 
 3 defined in this section), and such accounts, books, records,
 
 4 memoranda, correspondence, and other documents of any person
 
 5 controlling, controlled by, or under common control with any such
 
 6 carriers, as the commission deems relevant to the person's
 
 7 relation to or transaction with the carriers.  Motor carriers,
 
 8 lessors, and aforesaid persons shall submit their accounts,
 
 9 books, records, memoranda, correspondence, and other documents
 
10 for the inspection and copying authorized by this subsection, and
 
11 motor carriers and lessors shall submit their lands, buildings,
 
12 and equipment for examination and inspection, to any duly
 
13 authorized special agent, accountant, or examiner of the
 
14 commission upon demand and display of proper credentials.  As
 
15 used in this subsection, the words "keep" and "kept" mean made,
 
16 prepared, or compiled, as well as retained; the term "lessor"
 
17 means a lessor of any right to operate as a motor carrier; and
 
18 the term "motor carrier" or "lessor" includes a receiver or
 
19 trustee of any such motor carrier or lessor.
 
20      (e)  No report by any motor carrier of any accident arising
 
21 in the course of the operation of such carriers, made pursuant to
 
22 any requirement of the commission, and no report by the
 
23 commission of any investigation of any accident, shall be
 

 
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 1 admitted as evidence, or used for any other purpose, in any suit
 
 2 or action for damages growing out of any matter mentioned in the
 
 3 report or investigation.
 
 4      (f)  Each carrier shall submit a certificate of tax
 
 5 clearance from the director of taxation and the Internal Revenue
 
 6 Service to the effect that all tax returns have been filed, and
 
 7 all taxes, interest, and penalties levied or accrued under
 
 8 title 14 that are administered by the department of taxation and
 
 9 under the Internal Revenue Code, against the carrier, have been
 
10 paid.  The tax clearance certificate shall be filed with the
 
11 commission within three months after the close of the year to
 
12 which the certificate applies.  Failure to file a tax clearance
 
13 shall constitute cause for revocation of the carrier's
 
14 certification or permit pursuant to section 271-19.  Prior to the
 
15 issuance of any motor carrier certificate or permit, the
 
16 commission shall require that a current tax clearance certificate
 
17 be filed by an applicant.  Otherwise, the application shall be
 
18 denied."
 
19      SECTION 2.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
20 New statutory material is underscored.
 
21      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
22 
 
23                           INTRODUCED BY:  _______________________