STAND. COM. REP. NO. 131

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1008

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred S.B. No. 1008 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AUTONOMOUS TRANSPORTATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a permanent autonomous transportation task force to be placed in the Department of Transportation.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation, 350Hawaii.org, Hawaii Electric Vehicle Association, Tesla, and five individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Motorcycle Industry Council, Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association, and Specialty Vehicle Institute of America.

Your Committee finds that nearly every automaker and many prominent tech companies worldwide are working diligently toward deploying autonomous vehicles that can drive with little or no human intervention. Currently, twenty-nine states and Washington, D.C., as well as Governors in eleven states, including Hawaii, have enacted legislation or executive orders related to autonomous vehicles. This measure will establish a permanent task force within the Department of Transportation to make recommendations to the Legislature and to prepare the State for the inevitable adoption and use of autonomous vehicles.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

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 S.B. No. 1008, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1008, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

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

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair