STAND. COM. REP. NO.  601

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

RE:   H.B. No. 1101

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 1101 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DRIVER LICENSES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to assist Hawaii drivers who have moved out-of-state and later returned to Hawaii to obtain a Hawaii drivers license by permitting the Examiner of Drivers to waive the knowledge test where the applicant holds a valid license from another state or territory and the applicant's prior Hawaii license would have expired not more than one year after the date of the reapplication.

     The Department of Transportation and two concerned individuals testified in support of this bill.  The Department of Customer Services of the City and County of Honolulu supported the intent of this measure.

     Current law allows drivers with a valid driver's license from another state to drive on our roadways.  However, in order to obtain a Hawaii driver's license, the driver must pass a written examination.  This test must also be passed by individuals who have returned to Hawaii after moving out-of-state and obtaining a driver's license from another state.  Your Committee finds that since most jurisdictions accept driver's licenses from other states on a reciprocal basis, Hawaii should allow the Examiner of Drivers to waive the knowledge exam for these driver license applicants.

     However, your Committee has also been notified by the City and County of Honolulu that a majority of the jurisdictions across the United States have adopted, or are currently adopting, uniform motor vehicle laws and are allowing the waiver of both knowledge and performance tests for applicants holding a valid drivers license from other jurisdictions.

     As such, your Committee has amended this bill by deleting its contents and replacing it with language that allows the Examiner of Drivers to waive both the knowledge and performance tests for applicants holding a valid drivers license from another state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, a province of the Dominion of Canada, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

     Your Committee has also amended this bill by changing its effective date from October 1, 2007, to upon approval and has made 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 H.B. No. 1101, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1101, 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