STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3284

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2630

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2630 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MONETARY OBLIGATIONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit the imposition of restrictions on a person's ability to obtain or renew a driver's license or to register, renew the registration of, or transfer or receive title to a motor vehicle, as a consequence of unpaid monetary obligations. Provided however that this prohibition would not apply to driver's license suspensions related to excessive speeding, lack of motor vehicle insurance, or non-compliance with a child support order.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Pono Hawai‘i Initiative, American Civil Liberties Union Hawai‘i, Parents and Children Together, and Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks!. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii State Judiciary and Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

Your Committee finds that under existing law, an individual may be barred from obtaining or renewing a driver's license or motor vehicle registration if the individual has unpaid civil fines. The inability to obtain or renew a driver's license prevents people who have not committed a crime from getting to work, picking up their children, keeping medical appointments, and ultimately from escaping debt. Allowing driver's licenses to be suspended due to unpaid debt effectively penalizes poverty. This measure prohibits the imposition of restrictions on a person's ability to obtain or renew a driver's license or to register, renew the registration of, or transfer or receive title to a motor vehicle, as a consequence of unpaid civil fines accrued after the passage of this measure.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of September 1, 2020;

(2) Deleting the retroactive application of the prohibition and applying it prospectively to citations issued on or after September 1, 2020; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2630, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2630, S.D. 1.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair