Report Title:

Vehicle; Use of Intoxicants

Description:

Permits the court to order that a vehicle, owned and operated by a person committing the offense of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant, be impounded at the owner's sole expense and liability for not less than forty‑eight hours and not more than 30 days.  Effective 01/01/09.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	3006
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to intoxicants.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  Section 291E-61, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

     "(b)  A person committing the offense of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant shall be sentenced as follows without possibility of probation or suspension of sentence:

     (1)  Except as provided in [[]paragraph[]] (2), for the first offense, or any offense not preceded within a five‑year period by a conviction for an offense under this section or section 291E‑4(a):

         (A)  A fourteen‑hour minimum substance abuse rehabilitation program, including education and counseling, or other comparable program deemed appropriate by the court;

         (B)  Ninety‑day prompt suspension of license and privilege to operate a vehicle during the suspension period, or the court may impose, in lieu of the ninety‑day prompt suspension of license, a minimum thirty‑day prompt suspension of license with absolute prohibition from operating a vehicle and, for the remainder of the ninety‑day period, a restriction on the license that allows the person to drive for limited work‑related purposes and to participate in substance abuse treatment programs;

         (C)  Any one or more of the following:

              (i)  Seventy‑two hours of community service work;

             (ii)  Not less than forty‑eight hours and not more than five days of imprisonment; [or]

            (iii)  A fine of not less than $150 but not more than $1,000; [and] or

(iv) Impoundment of the vehicle owned and operated by the person committing the offense for not less than forty‑eight hours and not more than thirty days at the person's sole expense and liability; and

         (D)  A surcharge of $25 to be deposited into the neurotrauma special fund;

     (2)  For a first offense committed by a highly intoxicated driver, or for any offense committed by a highly intoxicated driver not preceded within a five-year period by a conviction for an offense under this section or section 291E-4(a):

         (A)  A fourteen-hour minimum substance abuse rehabilitation program, including education and counseling, or other comparable program deemed appropriate by the court;

         (B)  Prompt suspension of a license and privilege to operate a vehicle for a period of six months with an absolute prohibition from operating a vehicle during the suspension period;

         (C)  Any one or more of the following:

              (i)  Seventy-two hours of community service work;

             (ii)  Not less than forty-eight hours and not more than five days of imprisonment; [or]

            (iii)  A fine of not less than $150 but not more than $1,000; [and] or

(iv) Impoundment of the vehicle owned and operated by the person committing the offense for not less than forty‑eight hours and not more than thirty days at the person's sole expense and liability; and

         (D)  A surcharge of $25 to be deposited into the neurotrauma special fund;

     (3)  For an offense that occurs within five years of a prior conviction for an offense under this section or section 291E‑4(a) by:

         (A)  Prompt suspension of license and privilege to operate a vehicle for a period of one year with an absolute prohibition from operating a vehicle during the suspension period;

         (B)  [Either] Any one of the following:

              (i)  Not less than two hundred forty hours of community service work; [or]

             (ii)  Not less than five days but not more than fourteen days of imprisonment of which at least forty‑eight hours shall be served consecutively; or

(iii) Impoundment of the vehicle owned and operated by the person committing the offense for not less than forty‑eight hours and not more than thirty days at the person's sole expense and liability;

         (C)  A fine of not less than $500 but not more than $1,500; and

         (D)  A surcharge of $25 to be deposited into the neurotrauma special fund;

     (4)  For an offense that occurs within five years of two prior convictions for offenses under this section or section 291E‑4(a):

         (A)  A fine of not less than $500 but not more than $2,500;

         (B)  Revocation of license and privilege to operate a vehicle for a period not less than one year but not more than five years;

         (C)  Not less than ten days but not more than thirty days imprisonment of which at least forty‑eight hours shall be served consecutively;

         (D)  A surcharge of $25 to be deposited into the neurotrauma special fund; and

         (E)  Forfeiture under chapter 712A of the vehicle owned and operated by the person committing the offense; provided that the department of transportation shall provide storage for vehicles forfeited under this subsection; and

     (5)  Any person eighteen years of age or older who is convicted under this section and who operated a vehicle with a passenger, in or on the vehicle, who was younger than fifteen years of age, shall be sentenced to an additional mandatory fine of $500 and an additional mandatory term of imprisonment of forty‑eight hours; provided that the total term of imprisonment for a person convicted under this paragraph shall not exceed the maximum term of imprisonment provided in paragraph (1), (3), or (4)."

     SECTION 2.  Section 291E-64, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

     "(b)  A person who violates this section shall be sentenced as follows:

     (1)  For a first violation or any violation not preceded within a five-year period by a prior alcohol enforcement contact:

         (A)  The court shall impose:

              (i)  A requirement that the person and, if the person is under the age of eighteen, the person's parent or guardian attend an alcohol abuse education and counseling program for not more than ten hours; and

             (ii)  A one hundred eighty-day prompt suspension of license and privilege to operate a vehicle with absolute prohibition from operating a vehicle during the suspension period, or in the case of a person eighteen years of age or older, the court may impose, in lieu of the one hundred eighty-day prompt suspension of license, a minimum thirty-day prompt suspension of license with absolute prohibition from operating a vehicle and, for the remainder of the one hundred eighty-day period, a restriction on the license that allows the person to drive for limited work-related purposes and to participate in alcohol abuse education and treatment programs; and

         (B)  In addition, the court may impose any one or more of the following:

              (i)  Not more than thirty-six hours of community service work; [or]

             (ii)  A fine of not less than $150 but not more than $500; or

(iii) Impoundment of the vehicle owned and operated by the person committing the offense for not less than forty‑eight hours and not more than thirty days at the person's sole expense and liability;

     (2)  For a violation that occurs within five years of a prior alcohol enforcement contact:

         (A)  The court shall impose prompt suspension of license and privilege to operate a vehicle for a period of one year with absolute prohibition from operating a vehicle during the suspension period; and

         (B)  In addition, the court may impose any of the following:

              (i)  Not more than fifty hours of community service work; [or]

             (ii)  A fine of not less than $300 but not more than $1,000; [and] or

(iii) Impoundment of the vehicle owned and operated by the person committing the offense for not less than forty‑eight hours and not more than thirty days at the person's sole expense and liability; and

     (3)  For a violation that occurs within five years of two prior alcohol enforcement contacts:

         (A)  The court shall impose revocation of license and privilege to operate a vehicle for a period of two years; and

         (B)  In addition, the court may impose any of the following:

              (i)  Not more than one hundred hours of community service work; [or]

             (ii)  A fine of not less than $300 but not more than $1,000[.] or

(iii) Impoundment of the vehicle owned and operated by the person committing the offense for not less than forty‑eight hours and not more than thirty days at the person's sole expense and liability."

     SECTION 3.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun, before its effective date.

     SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2009.

INTRODUCED BY:

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