Report Title:

Refuse; Transport; Illegal Dumping; Haulers

Description:

Removes the exemption for persons transporting their own property in the furtherance of a primary business purpose or enterprise from the motor carrier law; exempts private persons operating motor vehicles in the transportation of garbage or refuse, including yard clippings and old furniture to a dump or transfer station. Allows citizens to report any illegal dumping activity, and if, as a result of the report, the case ends with a conviction, the citizen receives 50% of the fines collected for that conviction. Requires solid waste haulers to maintain trip records.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2925

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to refuse.

 

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

SECTION 1. Section 271-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§271-5 Exemptions, generally. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, its contents shall not apply to:

[(1) Persons transporting their own property where the transportation is in furtherance of a primary business purpose or enterprise of that person, except where the transportation is undertaken by a motor carrier to evade the regulatory purposes of this chapter;

(2)] (1) Persons operating motor vehicles when engaged in the transportation of school children and teachers to and from school, and to and from school functions; provided that these persons may engage in providing transportation at special rates for groups of persons belonging to an eleemosynary or benevolent organization or association domiciled in this State where the organization or association sponsors or is conducting a nonregular excursion; provided that whenever the persons engage in the transportation of persons other than those exempted in this paragraph, that portion of their operation shall not be exempt from this chapter. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to authorize any person to engage in the transportation of persons, other than the transportation of persons exempted by the terms of this paragraph, without a permit or certificate issued by the commission authorizing such transportation;

[(3)] (2) Persons operating taxicabs or other motor vehicles utilized in performing a bona fide taxicab service. "Taxicab" includes:

(A) Any motor vehicle used in the movement of passengers on the public highways under the following circumstances, namely the passenger hires the vehicle on call or at a fixed stand, with or without baggage for transportation, and controls the vehicle to the passenger's destination;

(B) Any motor vehicle for hire having seating accommodations for eight or fewer passengers used in the movement of passengers on the public highways that may, as part of a continuous trip, pick up or discharge passengers from various unrelated locations; provided that they shall be regulated by the counties in accordance with section 46-16.5(c); and provided further that this subparagraph shall not apply to any exclusive rights granted by the department of transportation for taxicab services at facilities under the department's control; and

(C) Any motor vehicle having seating accommodations for eight or fewer passengers used in the movement of passengers on the public highways between a terminal, i.e., a fixed stand, in the Honolulu district, as defined in section 4-1 and a terminal in a geographical district outside the limits of the Honolulu district, and vice versa, without picking up passengers other than at the terminals or fixed stands; provided that the passengers may be picked up by telephone call from their homes in the rural area or may be unloaded at any point between the fixed stands or may be delivered to their homes in the rural area;

[(4)] (3) Persons operating motor vehicles in the transportation of persons pursuant to a franchise from the legislature and whose operations are presently regulated under chapter 269;

[(5)] (4) Nonprofit agricultural cooperative associations to the extent that they engage in the transportation of their own property or the property of their members;

[(6)] (5) Persons operating motor vehicles specially constructed for the towing of disabled or wrecked vehicles but not otherwise used in the transportation of property for compensation or hire;

[(7)] (6) Persons operating motor vehicles in the transportation of mail, newspapers, periodicals, magazines, messages, documents, letters, or blueprints;

[(8)] (7) Persons operating funeral cars or ambulances;

[(9) Persons] (8) Private persons operating motor vehicles in the transportation of garbage or refuse, including yard clippings and old furniture to a dump or transfer station;

[(10)] (9) Persons operating the type of passenger carrying motor vehicles known as "sampan buses" within the radius of twenty miles from the city of Hilo, Hawaii;

[(11)] (10) Persons transporting unprocessed pineapple to a cannery, seed corn to a processing facility, or returning any containers used in such transportation to the fields;

[(12)] (11) Sugar plantations transporting sugarcane, raw sugar, molasses, sugar by-products, and farming supplies for neighboring farmers pursuant to contracts administered by the United States Department of Agriculture;

[(13)] (12) Persons engaged in the ranching or meat or feed business who transport cattle to slaughterhouses for hire where such transportation is their sole transportation for hire and where their earnings from the transportation constitute less than fifty per cent of their gross income from their business and the transportation for hire;

[(14)] (13) Persons transporting unprocessed raw milk to processing plants and returning any containers used in such transportation to dairy farms for reloading;

[(15)] (14) Persons transporting animal feeds to animal husbandry farmers and farming supplies directly to animal husbandry farmers and returning any containers used in such transportation to these sources of such feeds and supplies for reloading;

[(16)] (15) Persons engaged in transporting not more than fifteen passengers between their places of abode, or termini near such places, and their places of employment in a single daily round trip where the driver is also on the driver's way to or from the driver's place of employment;

[(17)] (16) Persons transporting passengers without charge in motor vehicles owned or operated by such person, where such transportation is provided in conjunction with and in furtherance of a related primary business purpose or enterprise of that person, and such transportation is provided only directly to and from the place of business of such person, except that this exemption shall not apply to persons making any contract, agreement, or arrangement to provide, procure, furnish, or arrange for transportation as a travel agent or broker or a person engaged in tour or sightseeing activities, nor shall this exemption apply where the transportation is undertaken by a person to evade the regulatory purposes of this chapter; and

[(18)] (17) Persons conducting the type of county-regulated passenger carrying operation known as "jitney services". For the purposes of this paragraph, "jitney services" means public transportation services utilizing motor vehicles that have seating accommodations for six to twenty-five passengers, operate along specific routes during defined service hours, and levy a flat fare schedule."

SECTION 2. Section 342H-30, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§342H-30 Prohibition. (a) No person, including any public body, shall engage in the operation of an open dump.

(b) No person, including any public body, shall operate a solid waste management system without first securing approval in writing from the director.

(c) No person, including any public body, shall discard, dispose of, deposit, discharge, or dump solid waste[,] or by contract or otherwise arrange directly or indirectly for the disposal of solid waste in an amount greater than one cubic yard in volume anywhere other than a permitted solid waste management system without the prior written approval of the director. This prohibition shall not be deemed to supersede any other disposal prohibitions established under federal, state, or county law, regulation, rule, or ordinance.

(d) In addition to any other penalty provided by law, a person who knowingly violates or knowingly consents to the violation of this section shall be subject to one or more of the following penalties:

(1) Criminal penalties of not more than $25,000 for each separate offense;

(2) Not more than thirty days imprisonment for each offense; or

(3) Revocation or suspension by court order of any contractor’s license to operate as a contractor or any applicable certificate of authorization from the public utilities commission.

Each day of a violation shall constitute a separate offense.

(e) Any person who reports prohibited dumping activity, as provided in this section, which leads to a conviction, shall receive fifty per cent of the fines collected for that conviction."

SECTION 3. Chapter 342H, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§342H- Solid waste haulers; trip records; noncompliance. (a) Haulers of solid waste shall maintain trip records documenting:

(1) The name of the company or employer they are hauling for;

(2) The type and amount of solid waste they are carrying; and

(3) The location of the solid waste drop-off.

For the purpose of this section, "hauler" means an individual driver that transports solid waste from one location to another for a business or corporation.

(b) The trip records shall be maintained by the business or corporation for a minimum of five years and shall be produced by the hauler, business, or corporation upon the request of the department.

(c) Failure to comply with section shall be a petty misdemeanor."

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.

INTRODUCED BY:

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