STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2682

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2443

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2443 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HIGHWAY SAFETY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish the Automated Speed Enforcement Systems Program;

(2) Authorize the State or counties to administer the Automated Speed Enforcement Systems Program;

(3) Require fines collected beginning January 1, 2025, for violations on a county highway to be expended for the operation of the Automated Speed Enforcement Systems Program;

(4) Create a new offense of noncompliance with the posted speed limit under the Automated Speed Enforcement System; and

(5) Appropriate funds.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation, Disability and Communication Access Board, Department of Transportation Services of the City and County of Honolulu, Honolulu Police

Department, and one individual.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender and two individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from The Judiciary and Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committees find that the prevalence of drivers who violate state traffic laws, particularly drivers who speed, place other roadway users and pedestrians at greater risk. According to the Department of Transportation, speeding has contributed to almost fifty percent of all motor vehicle fatalities. This measure establishes an Automated Speed Enforcement Systems Program to protect Hawaii's roadways and promote public safety.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying this measure as an emergency appropriation;

(2) Clarifying that the Automated Speed Enforcement Systems Program is to be implemented in not more than ten school zones throughout the State;

(3) Clarifying that the purpose of the general fund appropriation is to appropriate funds for the establishment and implementation of the Automated Speed Enforcement Systems Program in not more than ten school zones;

(4) Adding language to appropriate funds from the Highway Safety Fund into the Automated Speed Enforcement Systems Program Special Fund;

(5) Adding language to appropriate funds from the Automated Speed Enforcement Systems Program Special Fund for ten radar devices and one full-time equivalent consultant position;

(6) Specifying that the appropriations shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal biennium; provided that all moneys from the appropriations unencumbered as of June 30, 2026, shall lapse as of that date;

(7) Making conforming amendments;

(8) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2443, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2443, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair