STAND. COM. REP. NO. 234

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1092

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 1092 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PENALTIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to make driving without a license a civil violation, punishable by fines of not less than $50 and not more than $300.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Public Defender and American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i. Your Committee received testimony in opposition of this measure from the Department of Transportation and Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committee finds that Act 214, Session Laws of Hawaii 1993, aimed to "improve the system by which traffic offenses presently are being processed in order to dispose expeditiously of these cases". By decriminalizing certain traffic offenses that were not considered serious through the implementation of a program for drivers to settle their fines in less adversarial settings, the State's resources could be expended for more serious cases and allowed law enforcement to focus on their patrol duties. The stress of criminal prosecution, rather than civil litigation, for certain violations has severely strained the criminal justice process, requiring extensive resources while very few cases are resolved through a trial on the merits. To streamline the criminal justice process, while also ensuring fair penalties are administered commensurate to the violation, this measure re-examines penalties for certain traffic violations.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting blank amounts for the proposed minimum and maximum fines for driving without a license;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; 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 Transportation and Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1092, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1092, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair