STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3160

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2954

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2954 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATED TO TOWING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to allow towing companies to charge overtime fees during certain hours of operations, and to require tow companies operating in a county with a population of 500,000 or more to offer consumer service twenty-four hours a day to be entitled to the overtime charge.

     Testimony in support of this measure was received from Waialae Towing, D&H Towing, and four property managers.  The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs submitted testimony in opposition.  The Hawaii State Towing Association submitted comments.

     Your Committees find that illegally parked vehicles are a continuing problem, often blocking access to buildings, driveways, and emergency routes.  While tow companies provide a service in removing these vehicles, vehicle owners have complained that the current law is unclear regarding the unhooking of a vehicle if the owner returns before the vehicle has been removed.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by adding an amendment contained in a related measure, H.B. No. 509, H.D. 2, also heard by your Committees.  As amended, this measure also prohibits a towing company from charging the owner of a vehicle if the owner of the vehicle appears on the scene while the vehicle is in the process of being hooked up or is hooked up.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2954, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2954, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

____________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair