STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1318

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: S.B. No. 30

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred S.B. No. 30 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MOPEDS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require all moped drivers to wear a safety helmet.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Moped Doctors; Hawaiian Style Rentals & Sales; and seven individuals.

Your Committee finds that despite advancements in vehicle safety, operators and passengers of mopeds remain particularly vulnerable to severe injuries and fatalities due to their lack of protective barriers. Existing laws do not adequately address this heightened risk, leading to preventable deaths and life-altering head injuries. Your Committee further finds that studies consistently demonstrate the effectiveness of helmets in reducing fatalities and preventing head injuries. However, your Committee acknowledges that imposing a blanket requirement for all moped drivers to wear a helmet may be too stringent due to the varying levels of risk and context in which individuals drive mopeds.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that no person under the age of sixteen shall drive a moped in the State and no person under the age of twenty-one shall drive a moped without a helmet; and

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; 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 Transportation that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 30, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 30, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation,

____________________________

DARIUS KILA, Chair