HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

188

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

  

STATE OF HAWAII

  
   

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO review the steps necessary to transfer the traffic enforcement demonstration project from the Department back to the counties.

 

 

WHEREAS, the recently implemented traffic enforcement demonstration project, which was enacted by Act 234, Session Laws of Hawaii 1998, as amended, was designed to improve traffic safety in the State; and

WHEREAS, as enacted, that program was originally intended to be established by the counties as a three-year demonstration project in selected areas of each county to improve traffic enforcement, as provided in Act 234; and

WHEREAS, Act 234 was subsequently amended in 1999 and 2000. The 2000 amendment, however, changed the establishment and implementation of that project from the counties to the Department of Transportation; and

WHEREAS, in particular, Act 240, Session Laws of Hawaii 2000, provided in a new section 17A that while county police were "authorized and encouraged to provide oversight and all police services required for the traffic enforcement demonstration project", to the extent necessary to implement that Act, however, the powers of police officers for the enforcement of relevant traffic code statutes were "conferred upon the director of transportation and such of the officers, employees, agents and representatives of the department as may be designated by the director to exercise such powers"; and

WHEREAS, by transferring the implementation of the traffic enforcement demonstration project from the counties to the Department of Transportation, the 2000 amendment diluted the original intent of that project, namely, to serve as an adjunct to county police officers' enforcement duties and as a tool to enhance police capabilities; and

WHEREAS, there is a need to transfer the traffic enforcement demonstration project from the Department of Transportation back to the counties; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Transportation is requested to review the steps necessary to transfer the traffic enforcement demonstration project from the Department back to the counties; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Transportation, in reviewing the proposed transfer, is requested to:

    1. Review the costs and logistics associated with transferring the project to the counties;
    2. The legal ramifications of transferring the project, including the effect of such a transfer upon existing contracts with contractors;
    3. Ways to tie the project to community policing, in which communities may enlist the assistance of the project to control problem areas noted for speeding and red light running;
    4. Identify means for any uncontested fines from the project to be used directly by the county police departments, rather than the contractor; and
    5. Any other issues deemed relevant in transferring the project to the counties;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Transportation is requested to report findings and recommendations, including any proposed implementing legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2003; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Transportation and to the Mayors of Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii Counties and the City and County of Honolulu.

 

 
 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Traffic Enforcement Demonstration Project; Transfer to Counties