SB493

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that, in order to optimize the effectiveness of highway safety programs, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that each state have a program for periodic safety inspections of all registered motor vehicles. Motor vehicle safety inspections are intended to reduce the number of vehicles with existing or potential conditions that may contribute to crashes or increase the severity of crashes that do occur. The legislature agrees that oversight is needed to ensure motor vehicles are kept in good working order so as not to endanger the driver, any other occupant of the motor vehicle, or any other person upon the roadway.

In an August 2015 report entitled "Vehicle Safety Inspections: Improved DOT Communication Could Better Inform State Programs", the United States Government Accountability Office found that only sixteen states currently require periodic motor vehicle safety inspections. Of those sixteen states, Hawaii is one of eleven that require inspections to be conducted on an annual basis, while five states require inspections to be conducted on either a biennial or other basis. Further, sixteen of the thirty-four states with no motor vehicle safety inspection requirement once required these inspections but have since repealed the programs. The Government Accountability Office also notes that while officials in states with existing motor vehicle safety inspection programs contend that the programs improve vehicle safety conditions, data on crash rates in relation to the programs are insufficient or inconclusive. For example, the Government Accountability Office analyzed crash rates before and after the elimination of motor vehicle safety inspection programs and found that rates varied little from year to year, even after the elimination of the inspection programs.

The legislature further finds that the decreased availability of safety inspectors, compounded by the increasingly limited number of hours offered to the public to receive the services, has caused annual motor vehicle safety inspections to become an undue hardship on Hawaii's residents, particularly residents living in rural areas. Amending the motor vehicle safety inspection requirements would enable the State to maintain high vehicle safety standards while addressing the needs of safety inspectors and drivers.

The purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Provide that no new vehicle needs a safety inspection until five years after the date the vehicle was first sold, unless the vehicle was modified;

(2) Require a two-year motor vehicle safety check for vehicles ten years of age or newer, unless the vehicle was modified;

(3) Require an annual motor vehicle safety check for vehicles older than ten years of age or any vehicle that has been modified; and

(4) Double the inspection fee for the two-year motor vehicles inspection safety check.

SECTION 2. Section 286-26, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

1. By amending subsection (b) to read:

"(b) All other vehicles, including motorcycles, mopeds, trailers, semitrailers, and pole trailers having a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less, and antique motor vehicles as defined in section 249-1, except those in subsections (c) and (d), shall be certified as provided in subsection (e) [~~every twelve months; provided that any vehicle to which this subsection applies, except a moped, shall not require inspection within two years of the date on which the vehicle was first sold.~~]; provided that:

(1) No new vehicle shall require inspection until five years after the date on which the vehicle was first sold; provided further that the vehicle was not modified;

(2) Any vehicle with a model year ten years of age or newer but older than five years of age shall be certified every twenty-four months; provided further that the vehicle was not modified; and

(3) Any vehicle with a model year older than ten years of age or any vehicle that has been modified shall be certified every twelve months."

2. By amending subsection (e) to read:

"(e) Upon application for a certificate of inspection to be issued for a vehicle or moped, an inspection as prescribed by the director under subsection (g) shall be conducted on the vehicle or moped, and if the vehicle or moped is found to be in a safe operating condition, a certificate of inspection shall be issued upon payment of a fee to be determined by the director[.]; provided that the fee for a vehicle with a model year ten years of age or newer shall be twice that of the fee charged for a vehicle with a model year older than ten years of age. The certificate shall state the effective date, the termination date, the name of the issuing insurance carrier, and the policy number of the motor vehicle insurance identification card for the inspected motor vehicle as specified by section 431:10C-107 or state the information contained in the proof of insurance card as specified by section 431:10G-106. A sticker, authorized by the director, shall be affixed to the vehicle or moped at the time a certificate of inspection is issued. An inspection sticker [~~which~~] that has been lost, stolen, or destroyed shall be replaced without reinspection by the inspection station that issued the original inspection sticker upon presentation of the current certificate of inspection; provided that the current certificate of inspection and inspection sticker shall not have expired at the time the replacement is requested. The director shall adopt rules to determine the fee for replacement of lost, stolen, or destroyed inspection stickers."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	493
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII