STAND. COM. REP. NO.283

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 1588

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 1588 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DRIVER LICENSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a three-step graduated drivers licensing program for persons under the age of eighteen, and to require drivers under age eighteen to be accompanied by a licensed driver over age twenty-one when driving between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Police Department of the City and County of Honolulu, State Farm Insurance, the Hawaii Insurers Council, Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition, the American Automobile Association Hawaii, Mothers Against Drunk Driving – Hawaii (MADD), and three members of MADD's Youth in Action program. The National Transportation Safety Board submitted safety and accident statistics regarding young drivers.

Your Committee finds that drivers under the age of eighteen are overrepresented in motor vehicle collisions. Due to their lack of experience, lack of supervised training, and in some cases, lack of maturity, young drivers are particularly vulnerable to dangerous or inattentive driving habits.

Therefore, your Committee supports this measure, which will establish a three-stage graduated driver licensing program for persons under age eighteen. Before becoming eligible for a full drivers license, drivers under age eighteen must obtain a "provisional license" and comply with its requirements for at least six months.

Holders of a provisional license must be accompanied by a parent or guardian when driving between 11:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m., must ensure that all passengers wear seat belts at all times, and may not transport any unrelated persons under age eighteen. A provisional license holder who has met all of these requirements for at least six months will be eligible for a two-year drivers license when they reach age seventeen, and a full license upon reaching age eighteen.

Your Committee finds that the graduated licensing program proposed by this measure strikes an appropriate balance between recognizing that our youth must be given adult responsibilities, such as driving, and ensuring that they have the tools necessary to protect themselves and the public.

Based on MADD's testimony, your Committee made several amendments to this measure. Most of the amendments are "housekeeping" amendments to make the measure internally consistent with the intent expressed above.

Substantively, your Committee amended this measure to require a judge to suspend or revoke a provisional license if a youth fails to meet the requirements of the license; as introduced, this measure would have given a judge discretion in that regard.

Also, your Committee amended this measure to clarify that a license suspension must be for at least six months, but not necessarily until the driver reaches age eighteen. Without this amendment, it would have been possible for a sixteen year old to suffer a license suspension of nearly two years.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1588, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1588, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations,

____________________________

CAL KAWAMOTO, Chair