STAND. COM. REP. NO.  290-12

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2012

RE:   H.B. No. 2636

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred H.B. No. 2636 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAFFIC VIOLATION RECORDS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to protect the confidentiality of motor vehicle operator records by:

     (1)  Requiring district courts to delete records of moving violations for which the disposition was "dismissed with prejudice" or "not guilty", or that are more than ten years old from a certified abstract beginning on December 1, 2012, and to maintain the confidentiality of information subject to deletion;

     (2)  Prohibiting the traffic violations bureau of the district courts from granting access to a traffic violation record of any person without presentation of the state driver's license number or social security number of the person whose record is sought;

     (3)  Exempting information related to alleged moving violations committed by commercial drivers from nondisclosure and confidentiality provisions; and

     (4)  Providing civil penalties for violations of confidentiality and authorizing the Department of the Attorney General to investigate suspected violations.

Several concerned individuals testified in support of this measure.  The Judiciary provided comments.

     Under current law, a certified traffic abstract is required to show all alleged moving violations, no matter their disposition, and any convictions resulting therefrom.  According to the Judiciary, alleged moving violations include traffic infractions and traffic crimes, as well as administrative driver's license revocation cases.  As the law currently contains no time limitations for maintaining this information, the Judiciary retains and continues to report all such information in the Judiciary's active database.  Your Committee has been informed that this has caused problems for individuals whose traffic infraction cases have been dismissed.  This measure attempts to address this issue.

     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. 2636 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

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

____________________________

JOSEPH M. SOUKI, Chair