STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3414

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2442

H.D. 2

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2442, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require counties to take into custody any abandoned vehicle on a public road within ten business days;

(2) Require written notice to the owner of an abandoned vehicle only if the vehicle had been reported stolen;

(3) Amend the statutory interpretation of a "derelict vehicle" to include vehicles for which a notice of transfer has been submitted but the new owner has not transferred the title or registration; and

(4) Repeal the requirement that abandoned vehicles be disposed of by public auction.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Police Department, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Environmental Management of the County of Hawai‘i.

Your Committee finds that abandoned vehicles on public roads are a widespread environmental hazard that creates unsafe and unhealthy conditions for Hawaii's residents and adversely impacts the availability of legal parking in many areas of the State. Although this measure will help the counties remove abandoned and derelict vehicles from public roads and dispose of vehicles taken into custody, your Committee questions whether it is necessary to specify the number of days within which a county is required to take any abandoned vehicle on a public road into custody.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the number of days within which a county is required to take any abandoned vehicle on a public road into custody to a blank amount; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2442, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2442, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

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

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair