Report Title:

Electronically Recorded Information; Traffic Violation; Form of Citations

Description:

Allows for copies of traffic summons and citations to be electronically recorded, maintained, and transmitted. (HB2687 HD1)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2687

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO SUMMONS AND CITATIONS.

 

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

SECTION 1. Section 286-10, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§286-10[]] Arrest or citation. (a) Except when required by state law to take immediately before a district judge a person arrested for violation of any provision of this chapter, including any rule adopted pursuant to this chapter, any person authorized to enforce the provisions of this chapter, hereinafter referred to as enforcement officer, upon arresting a person for violation of any provision of this chapter, including any rule adopted pursuant to this chapter shall issue to the alleged violator a summons or citation printed in the form hereinafter described, warning the alleged violator to appear and answer to the charge against the alleged violator at a certain place and at a time within seven days after such arrest.

(b) The summons or citation shall be printed in a form comparable to the form of other summonses and citations used for arresting offenders and shall be designed to provide for inclusion of all necessary information. The form and content of such summons or citation shall be adopted or prescribed by the district courts.

(c) The original of a summons or citation shall be given to the alleged violator and the other copy or copies distributed in the manner prescribed by the district courts; provided that the district courts may prescribe alternative methods of distribution of the original and any other copy.

(d) Summonses and citations shall be consecutively numbered and the carbon copy or copies of each shall bear the same number.

(e) Any person who fails to appear at the place and within the time specified in the summons or citation issued to the person by the enforcement officer upon the person's arrest for violation of any provision of this chapter, including any rule adopted pursuant to this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

(f) If any person fails to comply with a summons or citation issued to such person, or if any person fails or refuses to deposit bail as required, the enforcement officer shall cause a complaint to be entered against such person and secure the issuance of a warrant for the person's arrest.

(g) When a complaint is made to any prosecuting officer of the violation of any provision of this chapter, including any rule adopted hereunder, the enforcement officer who issued the summons or citation shall subscribe to it under oath administered by another official of the department of transportation whose name has been submitted to the prosecuting officer and who has been designated by the director to administer the same.

(h) The requirements of subsection (c) regarding copies of summons or citations may be satisfied by maintaining and transmitting electronically recorded information, the manner and form of which shall be adopted or prescribed by the district courts."

SECTION 2. Section 291C-165, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new subsection to read as follows:

"§291C-165 Summons or citation. (a) There shall be provided for use by authorized police officers, a form of summons or citation for use in citing violators of those traffic laws which do not mandate the physical arrest of such violators. The form and content of such summons or citation shall be as adopted or prescribed by the administrative judge of the district courts and shall be printed on a form commensurate with the form of other summonses or citations used in modern methods of arrest, so designed to include all necessary information to make the same valid within the laws and regulations of the State.

(b) In every case when a citation is issued, the original of the citation shall be given to the violator; provided that:

(1) In the case of an unattended vehicle, the original of the citation shall be affixed to the vehicle as provided for in section 291C-167; or

(2) In the case of:

(A) A vehicle utilizing the high occupancy vehicle lane illegally; or

(B) A vehicle illegally utilizing a parking space reserved for persons with disabilities, where the violator refuses the citation;

the original of the citation shall be sent by certified or registered mail, with a return receipt that is postmarked within forty-eight hours of the time of the incident, as provided in section 291C-223 for vehicles illegally utilizing the high occupancy vehicle lane, or within seventy-two hours of the time of the incident for vehicles illegally utilizing a parking space reserved for persons with disabilities, to the registered owner of the vehicle at the address on record at the vehicle licensing division. If the end of the applicable forty-eight or seventy-two hour period falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, then the ending period shall run until the end of the next day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday; provided that the administrative judge of the district courts may allow a carbon copy of the citation to be given to the violator or affixed to the vehicle and provide for the disposition of the original and any other copies of the citation.

(c) Every citation shall be consecutively numbered and each carbon copy shall bear the number of its respective original.

(d) The requirements of subsection (b) regarding copies of summons or citations may be satisfied by maintaining and transmitting electronically recorded information, the manner and form of which shall be adopted or prescribed by the district courts."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $       or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2004-2005 for a pilot project for the implementation of this Act.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the judiciary for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval and shall be repealed on January 1, 2006; provided that sections 286-10 and 291C-165, Hawaii Revised Statutes, are reenacted in the form in which they read on the day prior to the effective date of this Act.