STAND. COM. REP. NO.  101

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

RE:   H.B. No. 983

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 983 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to enhance traffic safety, especially around Hawaii's schools by requiring the Director of Transportation to:

(1)  Conduct a statewide pupil travel evaluation, through the Safe Routes to School Coordinator, to study how students get to school;

(2)  Use the information gained from the evaluation from the Safe Routes to School Program to provide funds to each school for school-based workshops and community planning to reduce vehicular traffic and congestion around schools, encourage walking and bicycling to school, promote safety education, and improve safety for students driven to school;

(3)  Develop a streamlined application process for federal Safe Routes to School grants; and

(4)  Submit a report of the results of the statewide pupil travel evaluation and the school-based workshops and community-based planning projects funded by the Safe Routes to School Program to the Legislature.

     The Hawaii Bicycling League, PATH-Peoples Advocacy for Trails Hawaii, Kauai PATH Inc., and a concerned individual testified in support of this bill.  The Department of Transportation opposed this measure.  The Department of Education and a concerned individual submitted comments.

     Traffic congestion continues to increase around Hawaii's schools.  This in turn causes parents, who worry about the safety of their children, to drive their children to school, causing even more congestion around schools and increasing safety risks for students.  Evaluating the modes of transportation students currently use to get to school and conducting various workshops and community-based meetings to promote alternative methods of transportation to school will not only alleviate traffic congestion but increase student safety.

     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. 983 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Education.

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

____________________________

JOSEPH M. SOUKI, Chair