SB2455

Report Title:

Abandoned Vehicles

 

Description:

Fines the last seller instead of the registered owner of a vehicle found abandoned on roadway or public or private property and adds a fine of $5,000 for the second offense.

 

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2455
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to abandoned vehicles.

 

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

SECTION 1. Section 290-12, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§290-12 Leaving abandoned or derelict vehicles. (a) The [registered owner] last seller of an abandoned vehicle, as defined in section 290-1, or a derelict vehicle, as defined in section 290-8, found on any roadway, alley, street, way, lane, trail, bridge, or highway or other public property or on private property without authorization of the owner or occupant shall be fined not more than $1,000; and shall be fined $5,000 for a second offense, provided that the [registered owner] last seller shall not be fined if the abandoned or derelict vehicle has been stolen or taken from the registered owner without permission or authorization.

For purposes of maintaining accountability and responsibility for vehicle abandonment, "last seller" means the last owner of record who failed to execute a notarized bill of sale.

(b) Any state or county office seeking to enforce a fine under this section shall have a lien on all vehicles owned by the last seller up to the amount of the fine ordered by the court."

SECTION 2. Section 286-52, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsections (b), (c), (d), (j), and (k) to read as follows:

"(b) Within thirty calendar days thereafter, the transferee shall forward the certificate of ownership so endorsed and a notarized copy of the bill of sale, if any, to the director of finance who shall file the same; provided that if the recorded lien holder does not have an office in the State, the applicable period shall be sixty days. Whenever a transferee fails to comply with these provisions, the director of finance shall charge a fee of $50, in addition to the fee provided in section 286-51, for a new certificate of ownership.

(c) Subsection (b)[, requiring a transferee to forward the certificate of ownership after endorsement to the director of finance,] shall not apply to the transferee of a vehicle who was not intending to and does not drive the vehicle or permit the vehicle to be driven upon the public highways, but every such transferee, upon transferring the transferee's interest or title to another, shall give notice of the transfer to the director of finance and endorse the certificate of ownership to the new legal owner and the certificate of registration to the new owner[;], and a notarized copy of the bill of sale, if any; provided that if the director of finance has ascertained as of the date of the application that the registered owner has not deposited or paid bail with respect to any summons or citation issued to the registered owner for stopping, standing, or parking in violation of traffic ordinances within the county, the director may require, as a condition precedent to the transfer, that the registered owner deposit or pay bail with respect to all such summons or citations.

(d) The director of finance, upon receipt of the certificate of ownership properly endorsed, and a notarized copy of the bill of sale, if any; shall register the vehicle, and shall issue to the owner and legal owner entitled thereto by reason of the transfer a new certificate of registration and the certificate of ownership, respectively, in the manner and form hereinabove provided for original registration.

(j) Every person, other than a dealer, upon transferring a motor vehicle, whether by sale, lease, or otherwise, shall within ten days give notice of the transfer to the director of finance upon the official form provided by the director of finance[.] along with a notarized bill of sale, if any. Every notice shall contain the date of transfer, the names and addresses of the transferor and transferee, and such description of the vehicle as may be called for in the official form. Any person who violates this subsection shall be fined not more than $100.

(k) Whenever the registered owner of any motor vehicle or any licensed dealer has given notice to the director of finance of a transfer of the title or interest in the motor vehicle, as provided in subsection (i) or (j), and has delivered the certificate of ownership bearing the transferor's signature to the transferee as required by subsection (a)[,] and a notarized bill of sale, if any, the transferor shall be relieved from any liability, civil or criminal, from the date the transferor delivers the motor vehicle into the transferee's possession, which the transferor might otherwise subsequently incur by reason solely of being the registered owner of the vehicle."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________