Report Title:

Stored Vehicles; Waiver of Fees

Description:

Provides for waiver of unpaid vehicle fees and weight taxes for owners of stored vehicles not less than age 70 who transfer their vehicles to persons who receive medical assistance or organizations that receive tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

180

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

Relating to stored vehicles.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that elderly citizens often leave their vehicles sitting dormant for years after the death of a spouse or when they no longer drive themselves. The legislature also finds that many elderly citizens unknowingly fail to report their stored vehicles to the county director of finance and surrender their last issued certificate of registration, license plates, and emblem for their vehicles as required by law. These elderly citizens often only discover that they owe back taxes and fees years later when they decide to sell or dispose of their vehicles. This situation creates an unexpected and undue financial burden on the elderly. Many elderly citizens who have their vehicles in storage and no longer drive or have use for their vehicles would be willing to pass on their unused vehicles to persons or organizations in need if they could do so without penalty.

The purpose of this Act is to provide for the waiver of unpaid motor vehicle fees and weight taxes for owners of stored vehicles not less than age seventy who transfer their vehicles to persons who receive medical assistance, or to organizations that receive tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service.

SECTION 2. Section 249-5.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§249-5.5 Stored vehicles. (a) All vehicles taxable under sections 249-1, 249-2, 249-4 and 249-6 to 249-13, which are stored so that they are not used for transportation, or for the other purposes covered by section 249-2, shall be exempt from the tax for the period of storage; provided that the owner of each vehicle shall first present to the director of finance a signed statement of the fact of the storage, together with other relevant facts as may be required by the director of finance and shall surrender the last issued certificate of registration, license plates, and emblem for the vehicle. If the affidavit, certificate of registration, license plates, and emblem are presented to the director of finance after the expiration of the vehicle's registration period, then the unpaid tax for each month the license plates could have been validated with an emblem plus the fee for the currently issued license plates and emblem shall be paid in full upon presenting the affidavit.

(b) The director of finance may dispose of the license plates for any vehicle whose registration has expired and the owner shall be required to purchase new license plates and a new emblem upon removing the vehicle from storage.

(c) As a condition precedent to the removal of the vehicle from storage, the owner of the vehicle shall present to the director of finance a certificate of inspection that was issued after the recording of the storage with the director of finance if the certificate of inspection expired during the period of storage.

(d) Any unpaid tax or fee owed pursuant to subsection (a) and accrued after a vehicle owner's seventieth birthday shall be waived if the owner transfers ownership of the vehicle to:

(1) A person who receives medical assistance as defined in section 346-1 from the department of human services; or

(2) An organization that has received tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2003.

INTRODUCED BY:

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