STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1019

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 988

H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred S.B. No. 988 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to limit loud motor vehicle back-up beeper noises by:

(1) Providing drivers with the option of turning off audible reverse warning systems if the vehicle is guided by another person who is positioned behind the vehicle with a clear line of sight to the driver who is reversing a vehicle:

(A) Between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.;

(B) Within 200 hundred feet of a hospital or hotel; and

and

(2) Requiring that any switch permitting the audible reverse warning system to be manually disengaged shall automatically turn off after not more than three minutes and automatically re-engage the audible reverse warning system.

The Department of Transportation, Honolulu Police Department (HPD), Association of Apartment Owners-Summer Palace Condominium, Pat Winston's Waikiki Condos, and several concerned individuals testified in support of this bill.

Backup warning beepers on large trucks and service vehicles produce a great deal of noise, especially during the late night and early morning hours, and account for a number of noise complaints to HPD each day. Your Committee finds that this measure offers relief from the noise of backup warning beepers while still providing needed protection for individuals walking behind these vehicles.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting the provisions allowing audible reverse warning systems to be disengaged within 200 feet of a hospital or hotel or within residential neighborhoods;

(2) Requiring the Director of Transportation to establish rules pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to address audible reverse warning systems;

(3) Clarifying that the time period required for the automatic re-engaging of the audible reverse warning system after any mechanism permitting the audible reverse warning system to be manually disengaged has been activated shall be specified by rule; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for 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. 988, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 988, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation,

		____________________________ JOSEPH M. SOUKI, Chair