STAND. COM. REP. 1110
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2003
RE: S.B. No. 1401
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2003
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred S.B. No. 1401 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to:
(1) Provide the Department of Transportation (DOT) with the authority to collect passenger facility charges (PFCs) and use this revenue to finance costs related to capital improvement projects at state airports; and
(2) Establish the Passenger Facility Charge Special Fund.
The Department of Transportation and Airlines Committee of Hawaii testified in support of this bill.
Since 1991, the federal government has authorized the collection of PFCs to support airport improvements that were previously supported through the federally operated Airport Improvement Program, which provided grant monies to airports for capital improvement projects. Currently, over 330 of the 429 commercial service airports in the United States are approved for the collection of PFCs. Of the top 100 airports in the country, only 15 do not collect PFCs, and 5 of those 15 are in Hawaii. Hawaii is one of only two states that does not collect PFCs.
Your Committee understands that, given that PFCs vary between $3.00 and $4.50 per passenger, the DOT could be receiving an estimated net revenue of between $10 million and $15 million annually and that these funds could play an important role in the completion of capital improvement projects at our state airports.
Your Committee also notes that the safety of children in motor vehicles through the use of booster seats and the safety of the motoring public through the prohibition of the use of cellular phones while driving are also of utmost importance. Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by inserting language that:
(1) Requires drivers to place passengers under four years of age in a child passenger restraint system;
(2) Requires drivers to place passengers who are four and less than eight years of age and under 80 pounds in a child safety seat or booster seat;
(3) Provides certain exceptions to these requirements;
(4) Prohibits the use of hand-held cellular phones while driving a motor vehicle except in an emergency; and
(5) Requires drivers to use hands-free capable cellular phones or a voice-activated speaker phone system if they are operating a motor vehicle.
Other technical, nonsubstantive amendments were made for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1401, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1401, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation,
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____________________________ JOSEPH M. SOUKI, Chair |
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