SB1057

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THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	1057
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO MOTOR CARRIERS.

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

SECTION 1. The purpose of this Act is to deregulate all current state-regulated aspects of the motor carrier industry as set forth in chapters 269 and 271, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

SECTION 2. Section 92-28, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§92-28 State service fees; increase or decrease of. Any law to the contrary notwithstanding, the fees or other nontax revenues assessed or charged by any board, commission, or other governmental agency may be increased or decreased by the body in an amount not to exceed fifty per cent of the statutorily assessed fee or nontax revenue, in order to maintain a reasonable relation between the revenues derived from such fee or nontax revenue and the cost or value of services rendered, comparability among fees imposed by the State, or any other purpose which it may deem necessary and reasonable; provided that:

(1) The authority to increase or decrease fees or nontax revenues shall be subject to the approval of the governor and extend only to the following: chapters 36, 92, 94, 142, 144, 145, 147, 150, 171, 188, 189, 231, 269, [271,] 321, 338, 373, 412, 415, 421, 425, 431, 438, 439, 440, 442, 447, 448, 452, 453, 455, 456, 457, 458, 459, 460, 461, 463, 464, 466, 467, 469, 471, 482, 485, 501, 502, 505, 572, 574, and 846 (part II);

(2) The authority to increase or decrease fees or nontax revenues established by the University of Hawaii under chapters 304, 305, 306, and 308 shall be subject to the approval of the board of regents; provided that the board's approval of any increase or decrease in tuition for regular credit courses shall be preceded by an open public meeting held during or prior to the semester preceding the semester to which the tuition applies;

(3) This section shall not apply to judicial fees as may be set by any chapter cited in this section;

(4) The authority to increase or decrease fees or nontax revenues pursuant to this section shall be exempt from the public notice and public hearing requirements of chapter 91; and

(5) Fees for copies of proposed and final rules and public notices of proposed rulemaking actions under chapter 91 shall not exceed 10 cents a page, as required by section 91-2.5."

SECTION 3. Section 269-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "enforcement officer" to read:

""Enforcement officer" means any person employed and authorized by the commission to investigate any matter on behalf of the commission. [The term also means a motor vehicle safety officer employed and assigned, pursuant to section 271-38, by the department of transportation to enforce sections 271-8, 271-12, 271-13, and 271-29 through assessment of civil penalties as provided in section 271-27(h), (i), and (j).]"

SECTION 4. Section 269-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "public utility" to read as follows:

""Public utility" includes every person who may own, control, operate, or manage as owner, lessee, trustee, receiver, or otherwise, whether under a franchise, charter, license, articles of association, or otherwise, any plant or equipment, or any part thereof, directly or indirectly for public use, [for the transportation of passengers or freight,] or the conveyance or transmission of telecommunications messages, or the furnishing of facilities for the transmission of intelligence by electricity by land or water or air within the State, or between points within the State, or for the production, conveyance, transmission, delivery, or furnishing of light, power, heat, cold, water, gas, or oil, or for the storage or warehousing of goods, or the disposal of sewage; provided that the term:

(1) Shall include any person insofar as that person owns or operates a private sewer company or sewer facility;

(2) Shall include telecommunications carrier or telecommunications common carrier;

(3) Shall not include any person insofar as that person owns or operates an aerial transportation enterprise;

[(4) Shall not include persons owning or operating taxicabs, as defined in this section;

(5) Shall not include common carriers transporting only freight on the public highways, unless operating within localities or along routes or between points that the public utilities commission finds to be inadequately serviced without regulation under this chapter;

(6)] (4) Shall not include persons engaged in the business of warehousing or storage unless the commission finds that regulation thereof is necessary in the public interest;

[(7)] (5) Shall not include:

(A) The business of any carrier by water to the extent that the carrier enters into private contracts for towage, salvage, hauling, or carriage between points within the State and the carriage is not pursuant to either an established schedule or an undertaking to perform carriage services on behalf of the public generally; and

(B) The business of any carrier by water, substantially engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, transporting passengers on luxury cruises between points within the State or on luxury round-trip cruises returning to the point of departure;

[(8)] (6) Shall not include any person who:

(A) Controls, operates, or manages plants or facilities for the production, transmission, or furnishing of power primarily or entirely from nonfossil fuel sources; and

(B) Provides, sells, or transmits all of that power, except such power as is used in its own internal operations, directly to a public utility for transmission to the public;

[(9)](7) Shall not include a telecommunications provider only to the extent determined by the commission pursuant to section 269-16.9;

[(10)](8) Shall not include any person who controls, operates, or manages plants or facilities developed pursuant to chapter 167 for conveying, distributing, and transmitting water for irrigation and such other purposes that shall be held for public use and purpose; and

[(11)](9) Shall not include any person who owns, controls, operates, or manages plants or facilities for the reclamation of wastewater; provided that:

(A) The services of the facility shall be provided pursuant to a service contract between the person and a state or county agency and at least ten per cent of the wastewater processed is used directly by the State or county which has entered into the service contract;

(B) The primary function of the facility shall be the processing of secondary treated wastewater that has been produced by a municipal wastewater treatment facility that is owned by a state or county agency;

(D) The facility may distribute and sell recycled or reclaimed water to entities not covered by a state or county service contract; provided that, in the absence of regulatory oversight and direct competition, the distribution and sale of recycled or reclaimed water shall be voluntary and its pricing fair and reasonable. For purposes of this [subparagraph], "recycled water" and "reclaimed water" mean treated wastewater that by design is intended or used for a beneficial purpose; and

(E) The facility shall not be engaged, either directly or indirectly, in the processing of food wastes.

In the event the application of this chapter is ordered by the commission in any case provided in paragraphs [(5), (6), (9), and (10)] (4), (7), and (8), the business of any public utility that presents evidence of bona fide operation on the date of the commencement of the proceedings resulting in the order shall be presumed to be necessary to public convenience and necessity, but any certificate issued under this proviso shall nevertheless be subject to such terms and conditions as the commission may prescribe, as provided in sections 269-16.9 and 269-20."

SECTION 5. Section 269-33, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsections (a) and (b) to read as follows:

"(a) There is established in the state treasury a public utilities commission special fund to be administered by the public utilities commission. The proceeds of the fund shall be used by the public utilities commission and the division of consumer advocacy of the department of commerce and consumer affairs for all expenses incurred in the administration of chapters 269, [271,] 271G, and 486J; provided that the expenditures of the public utilities commission shall be in accordance with legislative appropriations. On a quarterly basis, an amount not exceeding thirty per cent of the proceeds remaining in the fund after the deduction for central service expenses, pursuant to section 36-27, shall be allocated by the public utilities commission to the division of consumer advocacy and deposited in the compliance resolution fund established pursuant to section 26-9(o); provided that all moneys allocated by the public utilities commission from the fund to the division of consumer advocacy shall be in accordance with legislative appropriations.

(b) All moneys appropriated to, received, and collected by the public utilities commission that are not otherwise pledged, obligated, or required by law to be placed in any other special fund or expended for any other purpose shall be deposited into the public utilities commission special fund including, but not limited to, all moneys received and collected by the public utilities commission pursuant to sections 92-21, 269-28, 269-30, [271-27, 271-36,] 271G-19, and 607-5."

SECTION 6. Section 286-207, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§286-207 Exemptions, certain vehicles. This part shall not apply to the following vehicles, if such vehicles are in compliance with safety ordinances and rules of the county in which they operate and other applicable state safety laws and rules:

(1) The type of passenger carrying vehicle known as a "sampan bus" within a radius of twenty miles from the city of Hilo, Hawaii;

(2) Station wagons for the carriage of property;

(3) Trucks, truck-trailers, trailers or other nonpassenger carrying equipment having a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less;

(4) Taxicabs [as described in section 271-5(3)(B)] ,any motor vehicle for hire having seating accommodations for eight or fewer passengers used in the movement of passengers on the public highways that may, as part of a continuous trip, pick up or discharge passengers from various unrelated locations; provided that they shall be regulated by the counties in accordance with section 46-16.5(c); and provided further that this subparagraph shall not apply to any exclusive rights granted by the department of transportation for taxicab services at facilities under the department's control;

(5) Passenger carrying vehicles with a seating capacity of nine or less used for the transportation of employees to and from the jobsite;

(6) Passenger carrying vehicles used by employees solely for their own transportation to, from, and during work;

(7) Passenger carrying vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 10,000 pounds or less used in car or van pools for the movement of passengers to and from work;

(8) A passenger carrying vehicle used for the transportation, without compensation, of persons for private, recreational or entertainment purposes;

(9) A passenger carrying vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less used solely for the transportation, without compensation, of the vehicle owner, the vehicle owner's family or guests;

(10) A passenger carrying vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less used for the transportation, without compensation, of persons for the furtherance of their physical or mental rehabilitation or for social welfare activities."

SECTION 7. Effective July 1, 2002, section 269-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by repealing the definition of "public highways".

[""Public highways" has the meaning defined by section 264-1, including both state and county highways, but operation upon rails shall not be deemed transportation on public highways."]

SECTION 8. Effective July 1, 2002, section 269-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by repealing the definition of "taxicab".

[""Taxicab" means and includes:

(1) Any motor vehicle used in the movement of passengers on the public highways under the following circumstances, namely, the passenger hires the vehicle on call or at a fixed stand, with or without baggage for transportation, and controls the vehicle to the passenger's destination; and

(2) Any motor vehicle having seating accommodations for eight or less passengers used in the movement of passengers on the public highways between a terminal, i.e., a fixed stand, in the city of Honolulu, and a terminal in a geographical district outside the limits of the city of Honolulu, and vice versa, without picking up passengers other than at the terminals or fixed stands; provided that passengers may be unloaded at any point between terminals; and provided further that this definition relating to motor vehicles operating between terminals shall pertain only to those motor vehicles whose operators or owners were duly licensed (under section 445-222 and any other applicable provision of law or ordinance) and doing business between such terminals on January 1, 1957."]

SECTION 9. Effective July 1, 2002, Chapter 271, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is repealed.

SECTION 10. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 11. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2002.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________