Report Title:

Motor Vehicle Insurance

Description:

Appropriates general funds for the insurance commissioner and the department of commerce and consumer affairs to develop and operate an electronic database to receive insurance coverage data from insurers and accessible by law enforcement officers in their efforts to verify a driver's insurance coverage.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

430

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLE INSURANCE.

 

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

SECTION 1. The legislature has firmly established that the privilege of driving a motor vehicle must be conditioned upon the ability to adequately compensate those who are injured as result of a motor vehicle accident. This requires participation by all drivers in Hawaii’s system of motor vehicle insurance; however, the legislature finds that the system has failed to encourage adequate participation as evidenced by the percentage of uninsured drivers, which has been estimated to be as high as thirty-five per cent by a variety of sources.

The legislature further finds that one of the primary reasons for this failure is the lack of an effective mechanism to provide enforcement officers with immediate access to accurate data that would allow them to determine whether a vehicle is uninsured. This Act is intended to establish a statewide information system, utilizing the most current technology, to enable the immediate and accurate determination by enforcement officers of the existence of motor vehicle insurance in compliance with article 10C of chapter 431, Hawaii Revised Statutes. The legislature is confident that the creation, maintenance, and utilization of this information system will significantly increase the level of participation in Hawaii’s motor vehicle insurance system and thereby enhance the fairness of the system for all of Hawaii’s citizens by more equitably distributing the cost of the system among all drivers and more effectively providing for the victims of motor vehicle accidents.

SECTION 2. Section 431:10C-107, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§431:10C-107 Verification of insurance: motor vehicles. (a) Every insurer shall issue to its insureds a motor vehicle insurance identification card for each motor vehicle for which the basic motor vehicle insurance coverage is written.

(1) The identification card shall contain the following:

[(1)] (A) Name of make and factory or serial number of the motor vehicle; provided that insurers of five or more motor vehicles which are under common registered ownership and used in the regular course of business shall not be required to indicate the name of make and the factory or serial number of each motor vehicle;

[(2)] (B) Policy number;

[(3)] (C) Names of the insured and the insurer; and

[(4)] (D) Effective dates of coverage including the expiration date.

[(b)] (2) The identification card shall be in the insured motor vehicle at all times and shall be exhibited to a law enforcement officer upon demand.

[(c)] (3) The identification card shall be resistant to forgery by whatever means appropriate. The commissioner shall approve the construction, form, and design of the identification card to ensure that the card is forgery resistant.

[(d)] (4) The commissioner shall issue a certificate of self-insurance periodically, as necessary, for use in each motor vehicle insured under section 431:10C-105.

[(e)] (5) The identification card issued by an insurer shall not be issued for a period exceeding the period for which premiums have been paid or earned; provided that this subsection shall apply only to the first application of a person for a motor vehicle insurance policy and shall not apply to applications for commercial and fleet vehicles.

(b) Every insurer shall establish and maintain an information system that complies with rules adopted by the commissioner pursuant to chapter 91 to electronically transmit data to a designated government database on all transactions affecting the issuance, renewal, expiration, nonrenewal, and cancellation of every motor vehicle insurance policy of the insurer.

(1) Information required to be transmitted shall be specified in the rules and shall include:

(A) Names of the insured and insurer;

(B) Policy number and effective dates of coverage, including the date of policy issuance and expiration;

(C) Identification of the vehicle, including the year, make, model, license plate number, and vehicle identification number;

(D) Description and effective date of the transaction affecting the policy; and

(E) Other information deemed necessary or appropriate.

(2) Information shall be transmitted as soon as possible, which in no event shall exceed twenty-four hours from the effective date of the transaction."

SECTION 3. The commissioner and department of commerce and consumer affairs shall develop and operate a database to receive the data that is required to be electronically transmitted by section 431:10C-107, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as amended by section 2 of this Act. The database shall be capable, on a continuous basis, of receiving the data from all insurers and of being remotely accessed by all enforcement officers in the State and counties having authority to enforce the provisions of article 10C of chapter 431, Hawaii Revised Statutes. The database shall include adequate technologies to manage, safeguard, and selectively control access to the database. These technologies shall include distributed information acuity manager, cross-platform audit log correlator security manager, and real-time security situational awareness. The commissioner shall select a qualified contractor to work with insurers and appropriate state and county agencies to develop and maintain the database and any necessary processes that will minimize the costs of compliance for the insurers and state and county agencies. The commissioner shall select a qualified contractor to develop, maintain, and operate a designated government statewide information system database that is capable of being accessed by all enforcement officers in the State and counties having authority to enforce the provisions of article 10C of chapter 431, Hawaii Revised Statutes. The database and statewide information system shall be fully developed and operational no later than January 1, 2004.

SECTION 4. 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 2003-2004, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2004-2005, for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of commerce and consumer affairs for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 6. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun, before its effective date.

SECTION 7. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2003; provided that section 2 shall take effect on January 1, 2004.

INTRODUCED BY:

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