STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 1772
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2025
RE: S.B. No. 1522
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 S.B. No. 1522, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO VEHICLE TITLE TRANSFERS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to:
(1) Clarify that proof that a transferor has filed required notice forms serves as a complete defense to any action brought against the transferor for an act or omission, civil or criminal, arising out of the use, operation, or abandonment of the vehicle by another person; and
(2) Require the courts to create new forms permitting transferors to respond to actions arising out of the use, operation, or abandonment of transferred vehicles by December 31, 2025.
Your Committee finds that if a transferee of a vehicle fails to endorse and submit the vehicle's title to the appropriate county motor vehicle and licensing agency, the transferor may have persistent liability over the vehicle. This measure ensures that a transferor who has filed required notice forms will have a complete defense to any action arising from the use, operation, or abandonment of the vehicle by another person.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Specifying that the Judiciary, no later than July 1, 2026, shall determine whether it is necessary to either create a new court form, or modify the Judiciary's website to provide more information, relating to transferors responding to actions arising from the use, operation, or abandonment of transferred vehicles, and, if so, to create such forms or modify the website, rather than requiring the courts to create new forms;
(2) Deleting the requirement that the Judiciary take additional measures to assist transferors as necessary to facilitate the appropriate dismissal of those actions; and
(3) 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 S.B. No. 1522, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1522, H.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,
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____________________________ DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair |