STAND. COM. REP. NO.  324

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

RE:   H.B. No. 1608

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Transportation and Public Safety & Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1608 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to protect public health and safety during traffic emergencies by allowing for the establishment of traffic emergency zones to provide access to an affected area.

     The Department of Transportation (DOT) and Maui Land and Pineapple Company, Inc., testified in support of this bill.  The State Procurement Office testified in opposition to the part of the bill exempting state highway improvements from the Hawaii Public Procurement Code once an area has been designated as a traffic emergency zone.

     Your Committees find that many communities throughout the state, especially those with limited highway access, are often affected when a major accident or natural disaster occurs.  Some communities have faced hours of isolation in such instances.  Allowing traffic emergency zones to be established will aid DOT in providing quicker access to areas affected by the closure of the only means of travel into or out of a community.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and Public Safety & Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1608 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and Public Safety & Military Affairs,

____________________________ CINDY EVANS, Chair

____________________________ JOSEPH M. SOUKI, Chair