STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3688

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2493

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2493, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMERCIAL DRIVER'S LICENSES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to create two new commercial driver's license restrictions relating to operating a commercial motor vehicle in excess of eighteen thousand pounds gross vehicle weight rating and operating a commercial motor vehicle on Lanai and Molokai only.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation.

Your Committee finds that commercial driver's license testing on Lanai and Molokai has been determined by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association to not meet federal standards. Your Committee further finds that specific driving skills needed to operate commercial motor vehicles, including the ability to choose a safe gap for changing lanes, passing other vehicles, and crossing or entering traffic and the ability to signal appropriately when changing direction in traffic, cannot be tested due to the lack of highway infrastructure. By creating a two-tiered licensing system, this measure will increase roadway safety and allow individuals to continue to obtain commercial driver's licenses to operate on Lanai and Molokai.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting its severability clause;

(2) Making it effective upon its approval; 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 H.B. No. 2493, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2493, H.D. 2, S.D. 1.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair