STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1185

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 277

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Transportation and International Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 277, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FEES FOR WINDSHIELD PLACARDS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to ensure fiscal accountability in the process for issuing parking placards for persons with disabilities by requiring the counties to deposit all fees collected for the issuance of temporary or replacement placards into the state general fund.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Disability and Communication Access Board and the Department of Customer Services of the City and County of Honolulu.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the County Council of the County of Maui.

     It is the intent of your Committees to ensure financial responsibility by requiring the counties to deposit fees for temporary and replacement disabled parking removable windshield placards into the state general fund.  Currently, the state reimburses the counties at a rate of $12 per placard.  This measure classifies that the moneys collected would be returned directly to the state and eliminates the paperwork required for requesting remittance, thus allowing for smoother quarterly transactions.

     Your Committees changed the effective date to July 1, 2007, and made technical, nonsubstantive amendments to this measure for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Transportation and International Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 277, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 277, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Transportation and International Affairs,

____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair

____________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair