STAND. COM. REP. NO. 261
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 1195
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. 1195 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) Establish buffer zones that ban street parking within certain distances of crosswalks under certain posted speed limits; and
(2) Designate exemptions.
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation, Department of Health, Oahu Metropolitan Planning Department, Hawaiʻi Bicycling League, and one individual.
Your Committee finds that pedestrians, bicyclists, and other vulnerable roadway users are disproportionately impacted by traffic fatalities and injuries, in comparison to drivers of motor vehicles. Historical automobile-centric planning and development has created an increasingly unsafe and inaccessible environment for bicycle riders and pedestrians. By setting restrictions on street parking within certain distances of crosswalks, this measure will allow both pedestrians and motorists greater visibility as they enter into, and drive through crosswalks.
Your Committee notes the comments from the Department of Transportation (DOT) regarding the distance required between an intersection and allowed parking for the purposes of pedestrian safety. Your Committee acknowledges DOT's request to not require signs or curb markings to be placed as an indication of prohibited parking, but to allow enforcement regardless of signage.
Accordingly, your
Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Deleting
language that would have provided separate distances required according
to speed limits;
(2) Specifying
that no vehicle parking abutting the curb or edge of a vehicle travel way shall
be allowed within twenty feet of a crosswalk or intersection;
(4) Specifying that signs and curb markings shall
not be required to restrict parking within twenty feet of a crosswalk or
intersection;
(5) Amending
section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and
(6) 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. 1195, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1195, 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,
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________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair |
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