STAND. COM. REP. NO. 305-06

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: H.B. No. 2640

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Transportation and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2640 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PARKING FOR DISABLED PERSONS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to enhance the statewide program on parking for persons with disabilities by:

(1) Requiring, rather than allowing, counties to issue removable and temporary removable windshield parking placards (placards) and replacement placards on behalf of the State: and

(2) Requiring the State to reimburse the counties for issuing the placards.

The State Council on Developmental Disabilities, Disability and Communication Access Board, Department of Finance of the County of Maui, and a concerned individual testified in support of this bill. The Department of Customer Services of the City and County of Honolulu supported the intent of this bill.

 

The State currently operates the program on parking for persons with disabilities and uses the services of the counties to issue placards to qualified persons with disabilities. At present, reimbursement rates are administratively established at $10 per placard and an additional $10 for a replacement placard. However, this reimbursement fee only covers a fraction of the administrative costs of issuing placards. Your Committees find that statutorily establishing the reimbursement rate with adjustments for inflation, as well as requiring, rather than allowing, counties to issue placards ensures the integrity and permanency of the statewide program on parking for persons with disabilities.

Your Committees understand concerns raised by DCAB about their abilities as an agency to determine rates of inflation. However, your Committees find that this is beyond the purview of the Committees on Transportation and Health and respectfully requests the Committee on Finance to look further into this matter.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2640 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and Health,

 

____________________________

DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair

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JOSEPH M. SOUKI, Chair