STAND. COM. REP. NO.  89

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

RE:   H.B. No. 895

      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. 895 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to provide the counties and tow companies with the tools necessary to take custody and properly dispose of abandoned vehicles in a more efficient manner.  Specifically, this measure:

(1) Allows counties to increase registration fees and thereby increase deposits into the highway beautification and disposal of abandoned or derelict vehicles revolving fund to defray costs associated with the storage of abandoned or derelict vehicles;

(2)  Increase towing, storage and overtime fees that towing companies are currently allowed to charge;

(3)  Decrease the number of days in which the owner of the towed motor vehicle must be notified and

(4)  Decreases the number of days the owner of a towed motor vehicle is allowed to recover the vehicle before it is deemed abandoned.

     A member of the Hawaii County Council, Kitagawa's Towing, Hawaii State Towing Association, Waialae Tow Service, and several concerned tow company owners and individuals testified in support of this bill.  Catrala-Hawaii supported the intent of the measure.  The Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association opposed this measure.

     Abandoned and derelict motor vehicles mar the beauty of Hawaii's landscape and, at times, create unsafe situations on our roadways.  While the counties and tow companies work diligently to remove these vehicles in a timely manner, increases in the number of abandoned vehicles, along with a lengthy notification process which sometimes takes upwards of three months, and increased operational and storage costs has caused many tow companies to face financial hardship.

     While this bill will help ease the financial burden on tow companies, your Committee is cognizant of the fact that requiring an owner to recover their vehicle within ten days after notification of their vehicle being towed is unrealistic.  Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by reinserting language that allows the owner of a towed motor vehicle thirty days to recover the vehicle before it is deemed abandoned.

     Technical, nonsubstantive amendments were made for style, clarity, and consistency.

     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. 895, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 895, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

JOSEPH M. SOUKI, Chair