STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1332

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 54

H.D. 2

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 Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred H.B. No. 54, H.D. 2, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Increase the penalty for a third or subsequent offense within five years of excessive speeding to a misdemeanor with a mandatory minimum jail sentence of thirty days; and

(2) Authorize the court, as part of the person's sentencing for the third or subsequent offense, to order that the vehicle used by the person in the commission of the offense be subject to forfeiture.

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

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committee finds that according to studies, motor vehicle speeding, particularly excessive speeding of more than twenty miles per hour above the posted maximum speed limit, is a public safety threat to local communities across the State. Your Committee further finds that additional speeding deterrents are needed to meet the State's commitment to reduce traffic related deaths and serious injuries to zero by 2045. Therefore, by increasing penalties for chronic excessive speeding, this measure will protect the State's roads and communities.

Your Committee notes the testimony of the Department of the Attorney General that proper identification processing for the first two convictions of excessive speeding is essential to confirm that the defendant charged with a third or subsequent offense is in fact the same individual.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that an individual convicted of excessive speeding with one prior excessive speeding conviction shall have their license and privilege to operate a vehicle suspended for a period of no less than ninety days and no more than one hundred eighty days;

(2) Clarifying that an individual who is convicted of excessive speeding with two prior excessive speeding convictions shall be sentenced to imprisonment for no less than ten days and no more than thirty days;

(3) Specifying that the revocation period of a license and privilege to operate a vehicle for an individual who is convicted of excessive speeding with two prior excessive speeding convictions:

(A) Shall be no less than one year and no more than three years; and

(B) Begins upon release from incarceration;

(4) Deleting language that would have required an individual convicted of excessive speeding with two prior excessive speeding convictions to report within seven days to an appropriate agency for fingerprinting; and

(5) Adding language to clarify that individuals who are convicted of excessive speeding shall be subject to identification processing procedures, including fingerprinting, regardless of the number of convictions for excessive speeding.

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 H.B. No. 54, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 54, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair