STAND. COM. REP. NO. 130

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 106

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 S.B. No. 106 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PEDESTRIANS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize pedestrians to act contrary to the statewide traffic code when a reasonably careful pedestrian would determine that there is no immediate danger of a collision with a moving vehicle.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Public Defender, Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, Hawaiʻi Bicycling League, Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute, Hawaii Self-Advocacy Advisory Council, Get Fit Kauai, Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, Hawaiʻi Workers Center, one member of the Kauaʻi County Council, and fourteen individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Transportation, Honolulu Police Department, Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition, and one individual.

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

Your Committee finds that existing statutes relating to pedestrians are needlessly restrictive, disproportionately impacting individuals who rely on walking as a primary form of transportation. By relaxing statewide pedestrian street regulations, Hawaii can dramatically increase walkability for people throughout the State. Your Committee believes that in many situations, the perception and judgment of pedestrians can be more effective in mitigating injuries than the threat of fines for street-crossing violations. Therefore, by allowing pedestrians to act contrary to statewide traffic regulations under certain conditions, this measure will maintain the safety of pedestrians while increasing walkability and freedom for those who choose to walk.

Your Committee notes testimony raising concerns that this measure will put pedestrians at risk as motorists may not expect them outside of a marked crosswalk.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adding language that will limit the exemption to pedestrians who are more than two hundred feet from a marked crosswalk;

(2) Inserting language that requires drivers to yield to pedestrians when the pedestrian clearly indicates their intention to cross the roadway at a crosswalk;

(3) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion;

(4) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

(5) 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. 106, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 106, 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