STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3732

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2526

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. 2526, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Increase the penalty for a third or subsequent offense involving the unauthorized driving or operation of motor vehicles to a class C felony; and

(2) Authorize the court, as part of the person's sentencing for the third or subsequent offense, to order that the vehicle used by the person in the commission of the offense be subject to forfeiture.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu and two individuals.

Your Committee finds that in 2023, roughly twenty percent of all traffic fatalities in the State involved an unlicensed driver. Your Committee further finds that recent high-profile fatal incidents have emphasized the need to reexamine the State's laws that regulate unlicensed drivers due to existing provisions that allow a person to be convicted of driving without a valid license again and again while facing nothing more than a misdemeanor. Therefore, this measure serves to continue the State's efforts to deter and prevent unlicensed individuals from getting behind the wheel and to increase the public safety of both drivers and pedestrians.

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. 2526, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair