STAND. COM. REP. NO. 237

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 990

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 990 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAFFIC INFRACTIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a traffic fines task force that will examine the Finnish tiered traffic fines system;

(2) Determine whether a similar system could be implemented in Hawaii;

(3) Provide recommendations as to how a system could be implemented; and

(4) Appropriates funds.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Judiciary and Matson Navigation Company, Inc.

Your Committee finds that fines for speeding generally serve the purpose of deterring such activities. However, flat fines, which apply to any speeding driver, can be ineffective deterrents upon wealthy offenders since a person with access to monetary resources can play a flat fine with ease. In contrast, Finland utilizes a scaled system for its traffic fines, in which the amount that an offender must pay is based upon that offender's income, with higher yearly incomes resulting in higher fines. However, to implement a tiered traffic fine system similar to Finland in Hawaii, further research and data collection are needed to develop a mathematic equation or other process by which an offender's fine is calculated in relation to their income.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adding a representative from the cargo industry to the task force; and

(2) 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 and Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 990, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 990, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair