STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1067

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 54

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 54, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to increase the penalty for a third or subsequent offense, within five years, of excessive speeding to a class C felony and that the vehicle be subject to forfeiture.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation; Honolulu Police Department; Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization; and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender and Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that excessive speeding is a major public safety concern, contributing to a high number of traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Hawaii. Research shows that pedestrian fatality risk rises sharply with higher impact speeds, and nearly half of the State's traffic deaths in the past decade were speed-related. This measure strengthens penalties for repeat speeding offenders and permits vehicle forfeiture to discourage reckless driving and improve overall road safety.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Making the penalty for a third or subsequent offense of excessive speeding a misdemeanor, rather than a Class C felony;

(2) Requiring a mandatory minimum jail sentence of thirty days as part of sentencing;

(3) Changing the maximum amount of time a person's license may be revoked to six months, rather than one year; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 54, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 54, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair