Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 609 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow the counties to increase, up to a maximum of $10, the certificate of motor vehicle registration add-on fee used to defray abandoned and derelict motor vehicle disposal costs.

Currently, section 286-51(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes, allows the counties to add an extra amount up to a maximum of $5 to the motor vehicle registration fee for beautifying highways under county ownership, control, or jurisdiction, and defraying the costs of disposal of abandoned or derelict motor vehicles. It specifies that any increase of this added amount that is above a $2 increase shall be used for defraying the additional costs involved in disposing abandoned or derelict vehicles.

It is your Committee's understanding that the counties have incurred significant costs for motor vehicle disposal due to the high volume of abandoned and derelict vehicles that cannot be traced back to their owners. The county of Maui, for example, processes an average of one hundred abandoned cars per month. The increase up to a maximum of $10 proposed by this bill will provide the counties with the opportunity to raise the add-on to the registration fee to help defray disposal costs.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 609 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.