STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1511

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1259

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1259, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Specify that an engineering study is not required to be considered when reducing the maximum speed limit within ten miles per hour of the current speed limit for that road; and

(2) Require the Department of Transportation to use National Association of City Transportation Officials guidance when setting a maximum speed limit for sections of highways with residential or commercial areas or schools immediately on a highway.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation, Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that traffic fatalities increased ten percent between 2023 and 2024 in the State. Additionally, a 2024 behavioral study conducted by the Department of Transportation found that nearly twenty-five percent of respondents admitted to exceeding the speed limit by more than twenty miles-per-hour, and over fifty percent admitted to exceeding the speed limit by ten to twenty miles-per-hour in the previous six months. By lowering speed limits, this measure will provide an effective safety countermeasure to reduce crashes and reduce traffic related deaths and serious injuries in the State.

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. 1259, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair