STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1425

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2007

RE:   S.B. No. 784

      S.D. 1

      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 S.B. No. 784, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to improve Hawaii's provisional driver licensing law by clarifying that when a minor is convicted of, or the minor's license is revoked for, a violation of Hawaii's provisional driver licensing law, the minor need not provide proof of financial responsibility.

     The Office of the Public Defender, Department of Customer Services of the City and County of Honolulu, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving–Hawaii testified in support of this bill.

     Current law allows drivers convicted of certain traffic offenses to have a proof of financial responsibility penalty, also known as an SR-22 requirement, imposed upon them.  The SR-22 provision requires drivers to post $25,000.00 in cash or bonds in order to retain their licenses.  While it is possible to obtain insurance as proof of financial responsibility, this coverage provided by the insurance companies is often costly.  However, without proof of financial responsibility, the driver's license will be suspended for three years.

     Your Committee finds that minors would have difficulty meeting the current SR-22 requirements and that it was not the intent of the Legislature to impose this penalty on minors violating the administrative requirements of the provisional driver licensing law.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by;

(1)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion; and

(2)  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. 784, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 784, S.D. 1, 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