REPORT TITLE:
Motor Vehicles


DESCRIPTION:
Allows for the counties to implement a program of disposing
abandoned or derelict vehicles, and to collect fees for such a
program.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           1467
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                     A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 46-1.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended to read as follows:
 
 3      "�46-1.5  General powers and limitation of the counties.
 
 4 Subject to general law, each county shall have the following
 
 5 powers and shall be subject to the following liabilities and
 
 6 limitations:
 
 7      (1)  Each county shall have the power to frame and adopt a
 
 8           charter for its own self-government, which shall
 
 9           establish the county executive, administrative, and
 
10           legislative structure and organization, including, but
 
11           not limited to, the method of appointment or election
 
12           of officials, their duties, responsibilities, and
 
13           compensation, and the terms of their office.
 
14      (2)  Each county shall have the power to provide for and
 
15           regulate the marking and lighting of all buildings and
 
16           other structures that may be obstructions or hazards to
 
17           aerial navigation, so far as may be necessary or proper
 
18           for the protection and safeguarding of life, health,
 
19           and property.
 

 
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 1      (3)  Each county shall have the power to enforce all claims
 
 2           on behalf of the county and approve all lawful claims
 
 3           against the county, but shall be prohibited from
 
 4           entering into, granting, or making in any manner any
 
 5           contract, authorization, allowance payment, or
 
 6           liability contrary to the provisions of any county
 
 7           charter or general law.
 
 8      (4)  Each county shall have the power to make contracts and
 
 9           to do all things necessary and proper to carry into
 
10           execution all powers vested in the county or any county
 
11           officer.
 
12      (5)  Each county shall have the power to maintain channels,
 
13           whether natural or artificial, including their exits to
 
14           the ocean, in suitable condition to carry off storm
 
15           waters; and to remove from the channels, and from the
 
16           shores and beaches, any debris that is likely to create
 
17           an unsanitary condition or become a public nuisance;
 
18           provided that, to the extent any of the foregoing work
 
19           is a private responsibility, the responsibility may be
 
20           enforced by the county in lieu of the work being done
 
21           at public expense.  Counties also shall have the power
 
22           to construct, acquire by gift, purchase, or by the
 
23           exercise of eminent domain, reconstruct, improve,
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           better, extend, and maintain projects or undertakings
 
 2           for the control of and protection against floods and
 
 3           flood waters, including the power to drain and
 
 4           rehabilitate lands already flooded, and to enact zoning
 
 5           ordinances providing that lands deemed subject to
 
 6           seasonable, periodic, or occasional flooding shall not
 
 7           be used for residence or other purposes in a manner as
 
 8           to endanger the health or safety of the occupants
 
 9           thereof, as required by the Federal Flood Insurance Act
 
10           of 1956 (chapter 1025, Public Law 1016).
 
11      (6)  Each county shall have the power to exercise the power
 
12           of condemnation by eminent domain when it is in the
 
13           public interest to do so.
 
14      (7)  Each county shall have the power to exercise regulatory
 
15           powers over business activity as are assigned to them
 
16           by chapter 445 or other general law.
 
17      (8)  Each county shall have the power to fix the fees and
 
18           charges for all official services not otherwise
 
19           provided for.
 
20      (9)  Each county shall have the power to provide by
 
21           ordinance for the improvement or maintenance
 
22           assessments of districts within the county.
 
23     (10)  Except as otherwise provided, no county shall have the
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           power to give or loan credit to, or in aid of, any
 
 2           person or corporation, directly or indirectly, except
 
 3           for a public purpose.
 
 4     (11)  Where not within the jurisdiction of the public
 
 5           utilities commission, each county shall have the power
 
 6           to regulate by ordinance the operation of motor vehicle
 
 7           common carriers transporting passengers within the
 
 8           county and adopt and amend rules the county deems
 
 9           necessary for the public convenience and necessity.
 
10     (12)  Each county shall have the power to enact and enforce
 
11           ordinances necessary to prevent or summarily remove
 
12           public nuisances and to compel the clearing or removal
 
13           of any public nuisance, refuse, and uncultivated
 
14           undergrowth from streets, sidewalks, public places, and
 
15           unoccupied lots, and in these connections, to impose
 
16           and enforce liens upon the property for the cost to the
 
17           county of removing and completing the necessary work
 
18           where the owners fail, after reasonable notice, to
 
19           comply with the ordinances.  The authority provided by
 
20           this paragraph shall not be self-executing, but shall
 
21           become fully effective within a county only upon the
 
22           enactment or adoption by the county of appropriate and
 
23           particular laws, ordinances, or rules defining "public
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           nuisances" with respect to each county's respective
 
 2           circumstances.  The counties shall provide the property
 
 3           owner with the opportunity to contest the summary
 
 4           action and to recover the owner's property.
 
 5     (13)  Each county shall have the power to enact ordinances
 
 6           deemed necessary to protect health, life, and property,
 
 7           and to preserve the order and security of the county
 
 8           and its inhabitants on any subject or matter not
 
 9           inconsistent with, or tending to defeat, the intent of
 
10           any state statute, provided also that the statute does
 
11           not disclose an express or implied intent that the
 
12           statute shall be exclusive or uniform throughout the
 
13           State.
 
14     (14)  Each county shall have the power to make and enforce
 
15           within the limits of the county all necessary
 
16           ordinances covering:  all local police matters; all
 
17           matters of sanitation; all matters of inspection of
 
18           buildings; all matters of condemnation of unsafe
 
19           structures, plumbing, sewers, dairies, milk, fish, and
 
20           morgues; all matters of the collection and disposition
 
21           of rubbish and garbage; and to provide exemptions for
 
22           homeless facilities and any other program for the
 
23           homeless authorized by chapter 201G, for all matters
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1           under this paragraph; and to appoint county physicians
 
 2           and sanitary and other inspectors as necessary to carry
 
 3           into effect ordinances made under this paragraph, who
 
 4           shall have the same power as given by law to agents of
 
 5           the department of health, subject only to limitations
 
 6           placed on them by the terms and conditions of their
 
 7           appointments; and to fix a penalty for the violation of
 
 8           any ordinance, which penalty may be a misdemeanor,
 
 9           petty misdemeanor, or violation as defined by general
 
10           law.
 
11     (15)  Each county shall have the power to provide public
 
12           pounds, to regulate the impounding of stray animals and
 
13           fowl, and their disposition, and to provide for the
 
14           appointment, powers, duties, and fees of animal control
 
15           officers.
 
16     (16)  Each county shall have the power to purchase and
 
17           otherwise acquire, lease, and hold real and personal
 
18           property within the defined boundaries of the county
 
19           and to dispose of the real and personal property as the
 
20           interests of the inhabitants of the county may require,
 
21           except that:  any property held for school purposes may
 
22           not be disposed of without the consent of the
 
23           superintendent of education; no property bordering the
 

 
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 1           ocean shall be sold or otherwise disposed of; and all
 
 2           proceeds from the sale of park lands shall be expended
 
 3           only for the acquisition of property for park or
 
 4           recreational purposes.
 
 5     (17)  Each county shall have the power to provide by charter
 
 6           for the prosecution of all offenses and to prosecute
 
 7           for offenses against the laws of the State under the
 
 8           authority of the attorney general of the State.
 
 9     (18)  Each county shall have the power to make appropriations
 
10           in amounts deemed appropriate from any moneys in the
 
11           treasury, for the purpose of community promotion and
 
12           public celebrations, the entertainment of distinguished
 
13           persons as may from time to time visit the county, for
 
14           the entertainment of other distinguished persons as
 
15           well as public officials when deemed to be in the best
 
16           interest of the community, and the rendering of civic
 
17           tribute to individuals who, by virtue of their
 
18           accomplishments and community service, merit civic
 
19           commendations, recognition, or remembrance.
 
20     (19)  Each county shall have the power to:
 
21           (A)  Construct, purchase, take on lease, lease,
 
22                sublease, or in any other manner acquire, manage,
 
23                maintain, or dispose of buildings for county
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                purposes, sewers, sewer systems, pumping stations,
 
 2                waterworks, including reservoirs, wells,
 
 3                pipelines, and other conduits for distributing
 
 4                water to the public, lighting plants, and
 
 5                apparatus and appliances for lighting streets and
 
 6                public buildings and manage, regulate, and control
 
 7                the same;
 
 8           (B)  Regulate and control the location and quality of
 
 9                all appliances necessary to the furnishing of
 
10                water, heat, light, power, telephonic, and
 
11                telegraphic service to the county;
 
12           (C)  Acquire, regulate, and control any and all
 
13                appliances for the sprinkling and cleaning of the
 
14                streets and the public ways and for flushing the
 
15                sewers; and
 
16           (D)  Open, close, construct, or maintain county
 
17                highways or charge toll on county highways;
 
18                provided that all revenues received from a toll
 
19                charge shall be used for the construction or
 
20                maintenance of county highways.
 
21     (20)  Each county shall have the power to regulate the
 
22           renting, subletting, and rental conditions of property
 
23           for places of abode by ordinance.
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1     (21)  Unless otherwise provided by law, each county shall
 
 2           have the power to establish by ordinance the order of
 
 3           succession of county officials in the event of a
 
 4           military or civil disaster.
 
 5     (22)  Each county shall have the power to sue and be sued in
 
 6           its corporate name.
 
 7     (23)  Each county shall have the power to establish and
 
 8           maintain waterworks and sewer works; to collect rates
 
 9           for water supplied to consumers and for the use of
 
10           sewers; to install water meters whenever deemed
 
11           expedient; provided that owners of premises having
 
12           vested water rights under existing laws appurtenant to
 
13           the premises shall not be charged for the installation
 
14           or use of the water meters on the premises; to take
 
15           over from the State existing waterworks systems,
 
16           including water rights, pipelines, and other
 
17           appurtenances belonging thereto, and sewer systems, and
 
18           to enlarge, develop, and improve the same.
 
19     (24)  (A)  Each county may impose civil fines, in addition to
 
20                criminal penalties, for any violation of county
 
21                ordinances or rules after reasonable notice and
 
22                requests to correct or cease the violation have
 
23                been made upon the violator.  Any administratively
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                imposed civil fine shall not be collected until
 
 2                after an opportunity for a hearing under chapter
 
 3                91.  Any appeal shall be filed within thirty days
 
 4                from the date of the final written decision.
 
 5                These proceedings shall not be a prerequisite for
 
 6                any civil fine or injunctive relief ordered by the
 
 7                circuit court.
 
 8           (B)  Each county by ordinance may provide for the
 
 9                addition of any unpaid civil fines, ordered by any
 
10                court of competent jurisdiction, to any taxes,
 
11                fees, or charges, with the exception of fees or
 
12                charges for water for residential use and sewer
 
13                charges collected by the county.  Each county by
 
14                ordinance may also provide for the addition of any
 
15                unpaid administratively imposed civil fines, which
 
16                remain due after all judicial review rights under
 
17                section 91-14 are exhausted, to any taxes, fees,
 
18                or charges, with the exception of water for
 
19                residential use and sewer charges, collected by
 
20                the county.  The ordinance shall specify the
 
21                administrative procedures for the addition of the
 
22                unpaid civil fines to the eligible taxes, fees, or
 
23                charges and may require hearings or other
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                proceedings.  After the unpaid civil fines are
 
 2                added to the taxes, fees, or charges as specified
 
 3                by county ordinance, the unpaid civil fines shall
 
 4                be deemed immediately due, owing and delinquent
 
 5                and may be collected in the same manner as the
 
 6                taxes, fees, or charges.  The procedure for
 
 7                collection of unpaid civil fines authorized in
 
 8                this paragraph shall be in addition to any other
 
 9                procedures for collection available to the State
 
10                and county by law or rules of the courts.
 
11           (C)  Each county may impose civil fines upon any person
 
12                who places graffiti on any real or personal
 
13                property owned, managed, or maintained by the
 
14                county.  The fine may be up to $1,000 or may be
 
15                equal to the actual cost of having the damaged
 
16                property repaired or replaced.  The parent or
 
17                guardian having custody of a minor who places
 
18                graffiti on any real or personal property owned,
 
19                managed, or maintained by the county shall be
 
20                jointly and severally liable with the minor for
 
21                any civil fines imposed hereunder.  Any such fine
 
22                may be administratively imposed after an
 
23                opportunity for a hearing under chapter 91, but
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                such a proceeding shall not be a prerequisite for
 
 2                any civil fine ordered by any court.  As used in
 
 3                this subparagraph, "graffiti" means any
 
 4                unauthorized drawing, inscription, figure, or mark
 
 5                of any type intentionally created by paint, ink,
 
 6                chalk, dye, or similar substances.
 
 7           (D)  At the completion of an appeal in which the
 
 8                county's enforcement action is affirmed and upon
 
 9                correction of the violation if requested by the
 
10                violator, the case will be reviewed by the county
 
11                agency that imposed the civil fines to determine
 
12                the appropriateness of the amount of the civil
 
13                fines that accrued while the appeal proceedings
 
14                were pending.  In its review of the amount of the
 
15                accrued fines, the county agency may consider the
 
16                following:  nature and egregiousness of the
 
17                violation, duration of the violation, number of
 
18                recurring and other similar violations, effort
 
19                taken by the violator to correct the violation,
 
20                degree of involvement in causing or continuing the
 
21                violation, reasons for any delay in the completion
 
22                of the appeal, and other extenuating
 
23                circumstances.  The civil fine which is imposed by
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1                administrative order after this review is
 
 2                completed and the violation is corrected is
 
 3                subject to only judicial review, notwithstanding
 
 4                any provisions for administrative review in county
 
 5                charters.
 
 6           (E)  After completion of a review of the amount of
 
 7                accrued civil fine by the county agency which
 
 8                imposed the fine, the amount of the civil fine
 
 9                determined appropriate, including both the initial
 
10                civil fine and any accrued daily civil fine, shall
 
11                immediately become due and collectible following
 
12                reasonable notice to the violator.  If no review
 
13                of the accrued civil fine is requested, the amount
 
14                of the civil fine, not to exceed the total accrual
 
15                of civil fine prior to correcting the violation,
 
16                shall immediately become due and collectible
 
17                following reasonable notice to the violator, at
 
18                the completion of all appeal proceedings.
 
19           (F)  If no county agency exists to conduct appeal
 
20                proceedings for a particular civil fine action
 
21                taken by the county, then one shall be established
 
22                by ordinance before the county shall impose that
 
23                civil fine.
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1     (25)  Any law to the contrary notwithstanding, any county
 
 2           mayor may exempt by executive order donors, provider
 
 3           agencies, homeless facilities, and any other program
 
 4           for the homeless under chapter 201G from real property
 
 5           taxes, water and sewer development fees, rates
 
 6           collected for water supplied to consumers and for use
 
 7           of sewers, and any other county taxes, charges, or
 
 8           fees; provided that any county may enact ordinances to
 
 9           regulate and grant the exemptions granted by this
 
10           paragraph.
 
11     (26)  Each county shall have the power to enact an ordinance
 
12           to assess fees and fines necessary to implement a
 
13           program of disposing of abandoned or derelict
 
14           vehicles."
 
15      SECTION 2.  Section 286-51, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
16 amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
 
17      "(b)  This part shall be administered by the director of
 
18 finance in conjunction with the requirements of sections 249-1 to
 
19 249-13 and shall entail no additional expense or charge to the
 
20 person registering the ownership of a motor vehicle other than as
 
21 provided by this section or by other laws; provided that for each
 
22 new certificate of ownership issued by the director of finance
 
23 under section 286-52, the director of finance may charge a fee
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           1467
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 which shall be deposited in the general fund.  The fees charged
 
 2 to issue a new certificate of ownership shall be established by
 
 3 the county's legislative body.
 
 4      Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, an additional
 
 5 fee [of not more than $1] for each certificate of registration
 
 6 may be established by ordinance and collected annually by the
 
 7 director of finance of each county, to be used and administered
 
 8 by each county for the purpose of beautification and other
 
 9 related activities of highways under the ownership, control, and
 
10 jurisdiction of each county, and to defray the additional cost in
 
11 the disposition and other related activities of abandoned or
 
12 derelict vehicles as prescribed in chapter 290.  The moneys so
 
13 assessed and collected shall be placed in a revolving fund
 
14 entitled, "the highway beautification and disposal of abandoned
 
15 vehicles revolving fund". 
 
16      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
17 New statutory material is underscored.
 
18      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
19 
 
20                              INTRODUCED BY:______________________