Deregulates all state-regulated aspects of commercial trucking only. Does not deregulate jitneys, tour buses, or other motor carriers of passengers.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the purpose of the public utilities commission of the State, in part, is to regulate those business activities which, absent any regulation, would function as monopolies to the detriment of the public. Where monopolistic conditions might otherwise exist, it is in the public interest that government regulate aspects of business activity, such as entry into the market, rates, tariffs, stock offerings, and other matters.

The public utilities commission regulates most motor carriers, primarily tour buses and trucks. However, the legislature finds that this is not a naturally monopolistic industry, and that, absent current regulation, greater competition would exist in the State for motor carriers. It further finds that the public interest will be served if entrepreneurs have free entry into the motor carrier market. The public interest will also be served if rates and tariffs are not regulated, allowing those tariffs and rates, and other aspects of business activity such as customer service, to respond to market pressures. Thus, the legislature finds that free competition will serve the public interest because competitors will strive to provide the public with better service at cheaper rates. The legislature finds that the department of transportation regulates safety for all motor carriers and that motor carrier safety should continue to be regulated by the department of transportation.

The purpose of this Act is to deregulate all state-regulated aspects of commercial trucks only. The public utilities commission shall continue to regulate tour buses, jitneys, and other carriers that provide for the transportation of persons, rather than the transportation of property. The regulation of motor carrier safety will continue to be regulated by the department of transportation.

SECTION 2. Section 271-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§271-1 Declaration of policy. The legislature of this State recognizes and declares that the transportation of persons [and of property], for commercial purposes, over the public highways of this State constitutes a business affected with the public interest. It is intended by this chapter to provide for fair and impartial regulation of such transportation in the interest of preserving for the public the full benefit and use of the highways consistent with the public safety and the needs of commerce; to promote safe, adequate, economical, and efficient service and foster sound economic conditions in transportation and among the several carriers, to encourage the establishment and maintenance of reasonable rates and charges for transportation and related accessorial service, without unjust discrimination, undue preference or advantage, or unfair or destructive competitive practices. This chapter shall be administered and enforced with a view to carrying out the above declaration of policy."

SECTION 3. Section 271-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

1. By amending the definitions of "motor vehicle", "common carrier by motor vehicle", and "contract carrier by motor vehicle" to read:

2. By repealing the definitions of "transportation of property" and "private carrier of property by motor vehicle".

SECTION 4. Section 271-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§271-5 Exemptions, generally. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, its contents shall not apply to:

SECTION 5. Section 271-8, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§271-8 Certificate or permit required. Except as provided in section 271-5, no person shall engage in the transportation of persons [or property], for compensation or hire, by motor vehicle, over any public highway of this State unless there is in force with respect to the person a certificate or permit issued by the public utilities commission authorizing the transportation."

SECTION 6. Section 271-12, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:

"(d) [Any certificate issued under this section covering the transportation of property shall be issued as an irregular route certificate and shall specify the island or islands or portion or portions thereof within which service may be rendered.] Any certificate covering the transportation of passengers shall specify the service to be rendered and the routes over which, the fixed termini, if any, between which, and the intermediate and off-route points, if any, at which the motor carrier is authorized to operate, and the certificate may include authority to transport in the same vehicle with the passengers, baggage of passengers, express, and also to transport baggage of passengers in a separate vehicle. There shall, at the time of issuance, and from time to time thereafter, be attached to the exercise of the privileges granted by the certificate such reasonable terms, conditions, and limitations as the public convenience and necessity may from time to time require, including terms, conditions, and limitations as to the extensions of the service territory or route or routes of the carriers, and such terms and conditions as are necessary to carry out, with respect to the operations of the carrier, the requirements established by the commission under sections 271-9(a)(1) and 271-9(a)(4), provided that the terms, conditions, or limitations shall not restrict the right of the carrier to add to [his or] its equipment and facilities in the service territory or over the routes or between the termini as the development of business and the demands of the public shall require."

SECTION 7. Section 271-20, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

"§271-20 Rates, fares and charges of common carriers by motor vehicle. (a) It shall be the duty of every common carrier of passengers by motor carrier to provide safe and adequate service, equipment, and facilities for the transportation of passengers and to establish, observe, and enforce just and reasonable rates, fares, and charges, and just and reasonable regulations and practices relating thereto, and to the issuance, form, and substance of tickets, the carrying of personal, sample, and excess baggage, the facilities for transportation, and all other matters relating to or connected with the transportation of passengers.

[(b) It shall be the duty of every common carrier of property by motor vehicle to provide safe and adequate service, equipment, and facilities for the transportation of property and to establish, observe, and enforce just and reasonable rates, charges, and classifications, and just and reasonable regulations and practices relating thereto, and to the manner and method of presenting, marking, packing, and delivering property for transportation, the facilities for transportation, and all other matters relating to or connected with the transportation of property.]

[(c)] (b) All charges made for any service rendered by any common carrier by motor vehicle in the transportation of passengers [or property] or in connection therewith shall be just and reasonable, and every unjust and unreasonable charge for such service or any part thereof, is prohibited and declared to be unlawful. It shall be unlawful for any common carrier by motor vehicle to make, give, or cause any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, locality, region, district, island, or description of traffic, in any respect whatsoever; or to subject any particular person, locality, region, district, island, or description of traffic to any unjust discrimination or undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever; provided that this subsection shall not be construed to apply to discrimination, prejudice, or disadvantage to the traffic of any other carrier of whatever description.

(d) Any person, organization, or body politic may make complaint in writing to the public utilities commission that any such rate, fare, charge, classification, rule, regulation, or practice, in effect or proposed to be put into effect, is or will be in violation of this section or of section 271-21. Whenever, after hearing, upon complaint or an investigation of its own initiative, the commission shall be of the opinion that any individual rate, fare, or charge, demanded, charged, or collected by any common carrier or carriers by motor vehicle for transportation, or any classification, rule, regulation, or practice whatsoever of the carrier or carriers, affecting such rate, fare, or charge or the value of the service thereunder, is or will be unjust or unreasonable, or unjustly discriminatory or unduly preferential or unduly prejudicial, it shall determine and prescribe the lawful rate, fare, or charge or the maximum or minimum or maximum and minimum rate, fare, or charge thereafter to be observed, or the lawful classification, rule, regulation, or practice thereafter to be made effective.

(e) Whenever there is filed with the commission any schedule stating a new rate, fare, charge, or classification for the transportation of passengers [or property] by a common carrier or carriers by motor vehicle, or any rule, regulation, or practice affecting such rate, fare, or charge, or the value of the service thereunder, the commission may upon complaint of any interested person or upon its own initiative at once and, if it so orders, without answer or other formal pleading by the interested carrier or carriers, but upon reasonable notice, enter upon a hearing concerning the lawfulness of the rate, fare, or charge, or the rule, regulation, or practice, and pending the hearing and the decision thereon the commission, by filing the schedule and delivering to the carrier or carriers affected thereby a statement in writing of its reasons for such suspension, may from time to time suspend the operation of the schedule and defer the use of the rate, fare, or charge, or the rule, regulation, or practice, but not for a longer period than five months beyond the time when it would otherwise go into effect, and after hearing, whether completed before or after the rate, fare, charge, classification, rule, regulation, or practice goes into effect, the commission may make such order with reference thereto as would be proper in a proceeding instituted after it had become effective. If the proceeding has not been concluded and an order made within the period of suspension, the proposed changed rate, fare, or charge, or classification, rule, regulation, or practice, shall go into effect at the end of such period; provided that this subsection shall not apply to any initial schedule or schedules filed by any carrier in bona fide operation when this section takes effect. At any hearing involving a change in a rate, fare, charge, or classification, or in a rule, regulation, or practice, the burden of proof shall be upon the carrier to show that the proposed changed rate, fare, charge, classification, rule, regulation, or practice, is just and reasonable.

(f) In any proceeding to determine the justness or reasonableness of any rate, fare, or charge of any carrier, there shall not be taken into consideration or allowed as evidence or elements of value of the property of the carrier, either goodwill, earning power, or the certificate under which the carrier is operating; and in applying for and receiving a certificate under this part any carrier shall be deemed to have agreed to the provisions of this subsection on its own behalf and on behalf of all transferees of the certificate.

(g) In the exercise of its power to prescribe just and reasonable rates, fares, and charges for the transportation of passengers [or property] by common carriers by motor vehicle, and classifications, regulations, and practices relating thereto, the commission shall give due consideration, among other factors, to the effect of rates upon the movement of traffic by the carrier or carriers for which the rates are prescribed; to the need, in the public interest, of adequate and efficient transportation service by the carriers at the lowest cost consistent with the furnishing of the service; and to the need of revenues sufficient to enable the carriers, under honest, economical, and efficient management, to provide the service.

(h) Nothing in this section shall be held to extinguish any remedy or right of action not inconsistent herewith."

SECTION 8. Section 271-21, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

1. By amending subsection (a) to read:

"(a) Every common carrier by motor vehicle shall file with the public utilities commission, and print, and keep open to public inspection, tariffs showing all the rates, fares, and charges for transportation, and all services in connection therewith, of passengers [or property]. The rates, fares, and charges shall be stated in terms of lawful money of the United States. The tariffs required by this section shall be published, filed, and posted in such form and manner, and shall contain such information as the commission by regulations shall prescribe; and the commission may reject any tariff filed with it which is not in consonance with this section and with the regulations. Any tariff so rejected by the commission shall be void and its use shall be unlawful."

2. By amending subsection (d) to read:

"(d) No common carrier by motor vehicle shall engage in the transportation of passengers [or property] unless the rates, fares, and charges upon which the same are transported by the carrier have been filed and published in accordance with this chapter."

SECTION 9. Section 271-22, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§271-22 Schedules of contract carriers by motor vehicle. (a) It shall be the duty of every contract carrier by motor vehicle to file and observe reasonable minimum rates and charges for any service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of passengers [or property] in connection therewith, and to file and observe reasonable [regulations] rules and practices to be applied in connection with the reasonable minimum rates, fares, and charges. It shall be the duty of every contract carrier by motor vehicle to file with the public utilities commission, publish, and keep open for public inspection, in the form and manner prescribed by the commission, schedules containing the actual rates or charges of the carrier for the transportation of passengers [or property], and any rule[, regulation,] or practice affecting the rates or charges and the value of the service thereunder; provided that any contract carrier serving but one shipper having rendered continuous service to the shipper for not less than one year may file reasonable minimum rates and charges unless the commission in any individual case, after hearing, finds it in the public interest to require the filing of actual rates and charges. No contract carrier, unless otherwise provided by this chapter, shall engage in the transportation of passengers [or property] unless the actual rates or charges for the transportation by the carrier have been published, filed, and posted in accordance with this chapter. Nothing herein provided shall be so construed as to require the carriers to maintain the same rates[,] and rules [and regulations] for the same services for all shippers served. No reduction shall be made in any such charge either directly or by means of any change in any rule[, regulation,] or practice affecting the charge or the value of the service thereunder, nor shall any new charge be permitted, except after thirty days' notice of the proposed change or new charge is filed in the aforesaid form and manner; but the commission may, in its discretion and for good cause shown, allow the change upon less notice, or modify the requirements of this subsection with respect to posting and filing of schedules, either in particular instances, or by general order applicable to special or peculiar circumstances or conditions. The notice shall plainly state the change proposed to be made and the time when the change will take effect. No carriers shall demand, charge, or collect compensation for transportation different from the charges filed in accordance with this subsection, as affected by any rule[, regulation,] or practice so filed, or less than the minimum rate or charge as may be prescribed by the commission from time to time, and it shall be unlawful for any carrier, by the furnishing of special services, facilities, or privileges, or by any other device whatsoever, to charge, accept, or receive compensation different from the actual rates and charges so filed, or less than the minimum charges prescribed; provided that any carrier or carriers, or any class or group thereof, may apply to the commission for relief from this subsection, and the commission may, after hearing, grant such relief to such extent and for such time, and in such manner as in its judgment is consistent with the public interest and the transportation policy declared in this chapter.

(b) Whenever, after hearing, upon complaint or upon its own initiative, the commission finds that any minimum rate or charge of any contract carrier by motor vehicle, or any rule[, regulation,] or practice of any carrier affecting the minimum rate or charge, or the value of the service thereunder, for the transportation of passengers [or property] or in connection therewith, contravenes the transportation policy declared in this chapter, or is in contravention of any provision of this chapter, the commission may prescribe such just and reasonable minimum rate or charge, or such rule[, regulations,] or practice as in its judgment may be necessary or desirable in the public interest and to promote the policy and will not be in contravention of any provision of this chapter. The minimum rate or charge, or the rule[, regulation,] or practice, so prescribed by the commission, shall give no advantage or preference to any carrier in competition with any common carrier by motor vehicle subject to this chapter, which the commission may find to be undue or inconsistent with the public interest and the transportation policy declared in this chapter and the commission shall give due consideration to the cost of the services rendered by such carriers, and to the effect of the minimum rate or charge, or the rule[, regulation,] or practice, upon the movement of traffic by the carriers. All complaints shall state fully the facts complained of and the reasons for the complaint and shall be made under oath.

(c) Whenever there is filed with the commission by any contract carrier any schedule stating a charge for a new service or a reduced charge directly, or by means of any rule[, regulation,] or practice, for the transportation of passengers [or property], the commission may upon complaint of interested persons or upon its own initiative at once and, if it so orders, without answer or other formal pleading by the interested party, but upon reasonable notice, enter upon a hearing concerning the lawfulness of the charge, or rule[, regulation,] or practice, and pending the hearing and the decision thereon, the commission, by filing with the schedules and delivering to the carrier affected thereby a statement in writing of its reasons for the suspension, may from time to time suspend the operation of the schedule and defer the use of the charge, or rule[, regulation,] or practice, but not for a longer period than five months beyond the time when it would otherwise go into effect; and after hearing, whether completed before or after the charge, or rule[, regulation,] or practice goes into effect, the commission may make such order with reference thereto as would be proper in a proceeding instituted after it had become effective. If the proceeding has not been concluded and an order made within the period of suspension, the proposed change in any charge or rule[, regulation,] or practice shall go into effect at the end of the period; provided that this subsection shall not apply to any initial schedule or schedules filed by any carrier in bona fide operation when this section takes effect. The rule as to burden of proof specified in section 271-20(e) shall apply to this subsection."

SECTION 10. Section 271-27, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§271-27 Unlawful operation. (a) Any person knowingly and wilfully violating any provision of this chapter, or any rule, requirement, or order thereunder, or any term or condition of any certificate or permit for which a penalty is not otherwise provided, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. In addition, any shipper or consignee located in this State, or any officer, employee, agent, or representative thereof, who knowingly and wilfully engages the services of any person violating any provision of this chapter, or any rule, requirement, or order, or any term or condition of any certificate or permit for which a penalty is not otherwise provided, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(b) Any person, whether carrier, shipper, or consignee, or any officer, employee, agent, or representative thereof, who knowingly offers, grants, or gives, or solicits, accepts, or receives any rebate, concession, or discrimination in violation of any provisions of this chapter, or who by means of any false statement or representation or by the use of any false or fictitious bill, bill of lading, receipt, voucher, roll, account, claim, certificate, affidavit, deposition, lease, or bill of sale, or by any other means or device, knowingly and wilfully assists, suffers, or permits any person or persons, natural or artificial, to obtain transportation of passengers [or property] subject to this chapter for less than the applicable rate, fare, or charge, or who knowingly and wilfully by any such means or otherwise fraudulently seeks to evade or defeat regulation as in this chapter provided for motor carriers, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

(c) Any special agent, accountant, or examiner who knowingly and wilfully divulges any fact or information which may come to the special agent's, accountant's, or examiner's knowledge during the course of any examination or inspection made under authority of sections 271-9(a)(4), 271-23, and 271-25, except as the special agent, accountant, or examiner may be directed by the commission or by a court or judge thereof, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

[(d) It shall be unlawful for any motor carrier or any officer, receiver, trustee, lessee, agent, or employee of the carrier, or for any other person authorized by such carrier or person to receive information, knowingly to disclose to, or permit to be acquired by any person other than the shipper or consignee without the consent of the shipper or consignee, any information concerning the nature, kind, quantity, destination, consignee, or routing of any property tendered or delivered to the motor carrier for transportation, which information may be used to the detriment or prejudice of the shipper or consignee, or which may improperly disclose the shipper's or consignee's business transactions to a competitor; and it shall also be unlawful for any person to solicit or knowingly receive any such information which may be so used.]

[(e)] (d) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent the giving of such information in response to any legal process issued under the authority of any court, or to any officer or agent of the government of the United States or of any state or of any political subdivision of any state, in the exercise of the officer's or agent's power or to any officer or other duly authorized person seeking the information for the prosecution of persons charged with or suspected of crimes or to another carrier, or its duly authorized agents, for the purpose of adjusting mutual traffic accounts in the ordinary course of business of the carriers.

[(f)] (e) Any motor carrier or any officer, agent, employee, or representative thereof, who wilfully fails or refuses to make a report to the commission as required by this chapter, or to make specific and full, true, and correct answer to any question within thirty days from the time it is lawfully required by the commission, or to keep accounts, records, and memoranda in the form and manner prescribed by the commission, or knowingly and wilfully falsifies, destroys, mutilates, or alters any report, account, record, or memorandum or knowingly and wilfully files with the commission any false report, account, record, or memorandum, or knowingly and wilfully neglects or fails to make full, true, and correct entries in the accounts, records, or memoranda of all facts and transactions appertaining to the business of the carrier, or person required under this chapter to keep the same, or knowingly and wilfully keeps accounts, records, or memoranda contrary to the rules, regulations, or orders of the commission with respect thereto, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. As used in this subsection, the words "keep" and "kept" mean made, prepared, or compiled, as well as retained.

[(g)] (f) Except when required by state law to take immediately before a district judge a person arrested for violation of this chapter, including any rule adopted pursuant to this chapter, any enforcement officer, other than a motor vehicle safety officer employed and assigned, pursuant to section 271-38, by the department of transportation to assess civil penalties, upon arresting a person for violation of this chapter, including any rule adopted pursuant to this chapter shall issue to the alleged violator a summons or citation printed in the form hereinafter described, warning the alleged violator to appear and answer to the charge against the alleged violator at a certain place within seven days after the arrest.

[(h)] (g) Any motor carrier or lessor, or any officer, agent, employee, or representative thereof, who fails or refuses to comply with any provision of this chapter, or any rule, requirement, or order thereunder, and any person located in this State, or any officer, agent, employee, or representative of any such person, who engages the services of any motor carrier or lessor, or any officer, agent, employee, or representative thereof, who fails or refuses to comply with any provision of this chapter, or any rule, requirement, or order, may be assessed a civil penalty payable to the State in a sum:

[(i)] (h) Notwithstanding subsection [(h),] (g), a motor carrier who fails to file, within the prescribed time, a financial report with the commission pursuant to its rules may be assessed a civil penalty payable to the State up to the sum of one-sixteenth of one per cent of the gross revenues from the motor carrier's business during the preceding calendar year, if the failure is for not more than one month, with an additional one-sixteenth of one per cent for each additional month or fraction thereof during which the failure continues, but in no event shall the total civil penalty be less than the sum of $50.

[(j)] (i) In addition to any other remedy available, the commission or its enforcement officer, including a motor vehicle safety officer employed and assigned by the department of transportation pursuant to section 271-38, may issue citations to persons acting in the capacity of or engaging in the business of a motor carrier within this State, without having a certificate of public convenience and necessity or other authority previously obtained under and in compliance with this chapter and rules adopted, or to any shipper or consignee located in this State, or any officer, employee, agent, or representative thereof who engages the services of those persons.

SECTION 11. Section 271-36, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) Every common carrier by motor vehicle and every contract carrier by motor vehicle shall pay to the commission, in April of each year, a fee equal to one-fourth of one per cent of the gross revenues from the carrier's business during the preceding calendar year, or the sum of $20, whichever is greater. Gross revenues include all revenues received from services connected with or incidental to the transportation of persons [or the transportation of property], as defined under section 271-4."

SECTION 12. Section 271-15, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is repealed.

["§271-15 Dual operation. Unless, for good cause shown, the public utilities commission finds or has found that both a certificate and a permit may be so held consistently with the public interest and with the declaration of policy declared in this chapter:

SECTION 13. Section 271-30, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is repealed.

["§271-30 Allowance to shippers for transportation services. If the shipper of property transported under this chapter, directly or indirectly, renders any service connected with the transportation, or furnishes any instrumentality used therein, the charge and allowance therefor shall be published in tariffs or schedules filed in the manner provided in this chapter and shall be no more than is just and reasonable; and the public utilities commission may, after hearing on a complaint or on its own initiative, determine what is a reasonable charge as the maximum to be paid by the carrier or carriers for the services so rendered or for the use of the instrumentality so furnished, and fix the same by appropriate order."]

SECTION 14. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 15. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that the amendments made to section 271-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, by section 4 of this Act shall not be repealed when that section is reenacted on June 30, 2002, pursuant to section 8 of Act 120, Session Laws of Hawaii 1997.