STAND. COM. REP. NO.  740-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   H.B. No. 1101

      H.D. 2

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1101, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to expand the waiving of driver licensing tests required of an individual holding a valid driver's license to other specified jurisdictions of the United States or Canada when applying for a Hawaii driver's license.  This bill authorizes the Examiner of Drivers to waive the knowledge test of highway signs and rules of the road.  Currently, only the driving test may be waived.

     The Department of Transportation, City and County of Honolulu, County of Kauai, County of Maui, County of Hawaii, and two individuals testified in support of this bill.

     Your Committee finds that many states waive all testing for individuals with valid driver's licenses issued by other states and it does not appear that expansion of this reciprocity to other jurisdictions would compromise traffic safety issues.

     To encourage further discussion on this matter, your Committee has amended this bill by changing the effective date to January 1, 2050.  Technical, nonsubstantive amendments were also made for clarity and style and to ensure that these amendments to section 286-108 are kept when Act 72, Session Laws of Hawaii, is repealed on January 9, 2011, which would have automatically repealed these amendments.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1101, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1101, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

TOMMY WATERS, Chair