STAND. COM. REP. NO.  427

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2011

RE:   H.B. No. 1241

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 1241 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ABANDONED VEHICLES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to provide a more practicable timeframe within which abandoned vehicles may be reclaimed by extending the time period during which a legal and registered owner of an abandoned vehicle may repossess the vehicle before disposal from ten days to 20 business days after mailing of a written notice of the intended disposition of the vehicle.

     The Hawaii Credit Union League and EAN Holdings, LLC, testified in support of this bill.  A concerned individual testified in support of the intent of this measure.  The City and County of Honolulu opposed this bill.

     Currently, an abandoned vehicle will be auctioned approximately 23 days after it is marked abandoned and towed, based on statutorily-established investigation, owner notification, and auction publication requirements.  Unfortunately, rental car companies are sometimes caught in a quandary because their vehicles may have been towed and deemed abandoned without their knowledge.  As the registered owners of these particular vehicles are often located on the mainland, it may be more than 23 days before the local representatives for these companies are aware the vehicle is going to be disposed of.  This measure attempts to address this issue.

     However, your Committee notes that, according to the rental car companies, this problem mainly affects vehicles whose registered owners reside on the mainland.  Accordingly, your Committee has amended this bill by applying the 20-business-day notification requirement only to vehicles whose registered owner resides out-of-state and maintaining the ten-day notification requirement for in-state registered owners.

     Technical, nonsubstantive amendments have also been made 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 H.B. No. 1241, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1241, 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