STAND. COM. REP. 2784

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 2017

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2017, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RACING ON HIGHWAYS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to impose stricter penalties on persons convicted of racing on highways at greater than thirty miles per hour over the posted speed limit; provide for forfeiture of a vehicle involved in a race on highways; and clarify the basis of the forfeiture.

Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Department of Transportation and a concerned individual. Testimony in opposition to the measure was submitted by the Office of the Public Defender and Police Department of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committee finds that recent racing incidents resulting in tragic fatalities compel the revision of the state vehicle racing laws to deter that dangerous behavior. Your Committee believes that stricter penalties for persons convicted of racing on highways are needed because the current penalties do not appear to act as a sufficient deterrent.

Your Committee has amended the measure by expanding it from a two-tier system to a three-tier system. The amended version of this measure now provides the following penalties:

(1) A fine of not more than $2,000, a term of imprisonment of not more than one year, or both, and a one-year license suspension for the first offense;

(2) A three-year license suspension and a possible vehicle forfeiture under chapter 712A, if the vehicle owned by the defendant is used in the commission of the present offense and has been used in a prior offense that resulted in a conviction, for an offense that occurs within five years of a prior offense; and

(3) A fine of not more than $10,000, conviction of a class C felony, or both, and a five-year license suspension for an offense that occurs within five years of two prior convictions.

Your Committee also amended this measure to change the effective date to July 1, 2010 to continue discussion on these provisions.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2017, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2017, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair