STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2598

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2372

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2372, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PRIVATE ROADS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Require the counties to accept the surrender of a highway, road, alley, street, way, lane, bikeway, bridge, or trail if there has been an absence of any act of private ownership over the highway, road, alley, street, way, lane, bikeway, bridge, or trail for five years;

     (2)  Deem a highway, road, alley, street, way, lane, bikeway, bridge, or trail that has been commonly used by residents of a particular area for emergency access purposes or for health and safety reasons to be publicly accessible for those reasons, without regard to actual ownership or responsibility for maintenance;

     (3)  Exempt the State and counties from performing any construction, reconstruction, preservation, resurfacing, restoration, or rehabilitation on a surrendered highway, road, alley, street, way, lane, bikeway, bridge, or trail;

     (4)  Exempt the State and counties from liability arising from use of a surrendered highway, road, alley, street, way, lane, bikeway, bridge, or trail for a period of two years following the performance of construction, reconstruction, preservation, resurfacing, restoration, or rehabilitation; and

     (5)  Exempt the State and counties from liability due to the negligent acts or omissions of others that the State or county did not already benefit from before the surrender of the highway, road, alley, street, way, lane, bikeway, bridge, or trail, solely by reason of the surrender.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i Association of REALTORS and Bank of Hawaii.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Department of the Attorney General; Department of Facility Maintenance, City and County of Honolulu; Department of Public Works, County of Hawaii; Office of the Mayor, County of Maui; and Hawaii Association for Justice.

     Your Committees find that there are numerous roads throughout the State that are privately owned or whose ownership has been called into question.  In many cases, these private roads are remnants of a road, or a small portion of a larger public road, whose ownership is disputed for various reasons.  This has resulted in questions regarding who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of these roads, many of which are regularly used for vehicular traffic.  Your Committees further find that since these private roads are not owned by a governmental entity, or their ownership is being disputed, they often do not receive proper repair and maintenance.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2016; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2372, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2372, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair