STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3792

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1696

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1696, 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:

(1) Lower the age of who may drive commercially within the State from nineteen to eighteen;

(2) Repeal the requirement that a person only operates category 3 vehicles to qualify to drive commercially in the State; and

(3) Require the Department of Transportation to amend its rules to lower the minimum age required for a commercial driver's license.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Transportation, Department of Customer Services of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii Transportation Association, Hawaiian Council, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that commercial drivers are essential to the movement of goods throughout the State. Establishing an earlier point of entry by lowering the minimum age for intrastate commercial driver's licenses to eighteen years will strengthen the commercial driver pipeline. This measure will expand the pool of commercial drivers in the State, helping stabilize supply chains, reduce delivery delays, and control transportation-related costs.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language authorizing a person under twenty-one years of age to drive commercially in the State in intrastate commerce if the person is actively enrolled in:

(A) A registered apprenticeship program as determined by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations under certain conditions; or

(B) A structured, on-the-job training program administered by the person's employer that meets certain requirements;

(2) Inserting a definition of "registered apprenticeship program";

(3) Deleting language that would have required the employer of a commercial driver's license applicant who is eighteen years of age or older but under twenty-one years of age to agree to train the applicant for an additional amount of time and keep records of the training;

(4) Deleting language that would have prohibited a commercial driver's license issued to an applicant who is under twenty-one years from authorizing operation in interstate commerce;

(5) Inserting language authorizing the Examiner of Drivers to issue a commercial driver's license to an applicant who is eighteen years of age or older but under twenty‑one years of age if the person demonstrates enrollment in or completion of certain training programs;

(6) Inserting language clarifying that employer-administered training shall not be required as a condition of commercial driver licensure where the applicant qualifies through a registered apprenticeship program; and

(7) 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. 1696, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1696, 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