HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2626

TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to safe routes to school.

 

 

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

 


     SECTION 1.  Chapter 291, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§291-    Safe routes to school program surcharge.  (a)  In addition to any other civil penalties ordered by the court, a person who violates any offense under part I may be ordered to pay a safe routes to school program surcharge of $10.

     (b)  The person shall pay the surcharge to the clerk of the court.  The surcharge shall be deposited with the state director of finance who shall transmit the surcharge to the safe routes to school program special fund pursuant to section 291C-B."

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 291C, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding three new sections to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§291C-A  Safe routes to school program.  (a)  There is established, within the department of transportation, a safe routes to school program that shall, among other things, enhance traffic safety around Hawaii's schools, enable and encourage children to walk and bicycle to school, and make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative through the federal safe routes to school program.

     (b)  There is created, within the department of transportation,  the position of safe routes to school program coordinator.  The safe routes to school program coordinator shall provide a central point of contact for the safe routes to school program.

     (c)  The director of transportation, through the safe routes to school program coordinator, and in consultation with the department of education, department of health, and Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, shall provide safe routes to school funds for school-based and community-based workshops and infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects that will reduce vehicular traffic and congestion, encourage walking and bicycling, and promote health and safety around Hawaii's schools.

     (d)  Implementation of the safe routes to school program shall take into consideration the need to:

(1)  Fill a permanent, full-time position of safe routes to school coordinator within the department of transportation;

(2)  Maximize the participation of stakeholder groups in the community and school officials;

(3)  Train volunteer facilitators for school-based workshops and community-based projects, including flexible training schedules;

(4)  Train potential grant requestors and stakeholder groups in federal and state requirements necessary in procurement, contracts, design, and construction; and

(5)  Allocate not less than ten per cent and not more than thirty per cent of the apportionment of safe routes to school funds for non-infrastructure-related activities or activities to encourage walking and bicycling to school, public awareness campaigns, student sessions on bicycle and pedestrian safety, or other non-infrastructure activities as prescribed under section 1404 of Public Law 109-59 of the federal Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act.

     (e)  Each grant proposal in the safe routes to school program shall:

(1)  Identify the modes of travel used by students to get to school;

(2)  Determine the number of students using each mode of travel;

(3)  Survey the parents of each student to gather information regarding the factors involved in the choice of transportation mode for the student and, where the student travels by automobile or bus, conditions that would need to change for the parent to permit the student to walk or ride a bicycle to school, and obstacles to walking and biking; and

(4)  Identify traffic infrastructure elements in the immediate vicinity of each school, including multi-lane roadways, speed limits, and traffic calming features that, either by their presence or absence, contribute to the use of automobiles as a student's mode of travel to school.

     (f)  The director of transportation, in consultation with organizations that have received non-infrastructure and pending infrastructure grants, shall develop a streamlined process for the federal safe routes to school grant program that meets federal and state requirements, simplifies the application process, and expedites release of funding after completion of school-based and community-based projects for infrastructure and non-infrastructure.

     (g)  The director of transportation shall submit to the legislature an annual report of the status and progress of the safe routes to school program no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the each regular session.

    (h)  Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring actions or omissions that would render the State ineligible to receive funds for the safe routes to school program under the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, Public Law No. 109-59.

     §291C-B  Safe routes to school program special fund.  (a)  There is established in the state treasury the safe routes to school program special fund, into which shall be deposited:

     (1)  Federal safe routes to school program funds;

     (2)  Assessments collected for speeding in a school zone, pursuant to section 291C-104; and

     (3)  Safe routes to school program surcharges collected in accordance with sections 291-    and 291C-C.

Moneys in the fund shall be distributed by the director of transportation to the respective counties to expend.

     (b)  The director of transportation shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to implement this section.  The rules shall establish a formula by which the moneys in the fund shall be distributed to each county and provide how the county shall expend the moneys for traffic calming measures in public school zones.

     §291C-C  Safe Routes to School Program Surcharge.  (a)  In addition to any other civil penalties ordered by the court, a person who violates any offense under part X may be ordered to pay a safe routes to school program surcharge of $10 if the violator is not already required to pay a safe routes to school program surcharge pursuant to the violation of the offense.

     (b)  The person shall pay the surcharge to the clerk of the court.  The surcharge shall be deposited with the state director of finance who shall transmit the surcharge to the safe routes to school program special fund pursuant to section 291C-B."

     SECTION 3.  Section 291C-104, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:

     "(c)  Any person who violates this section shall be fined $250 [and]; may be charged with a surcharge of up to $100 to be deposited into the trauma system special fund[.]; and may be charged with a surcharge of $25 to be deposited into the safe routes to school program special fund, where the violation involves speeding in a school zone."

     SECTION 4.  In codifying the new sections added by section 2 of this Act, the revisor of statutes shall substitute appropriate section numbers for the letters used in designating the new sections in this Act.

     SECTION 5.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.

     SECTION 6.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 7.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2012.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

 

 


 


 

Report Title:

Safe Routes to School Program; Safe Routes to School Special Fund; Speeding in School Zone; Traffic Fines

 

 

Description:

Permanently establishes the Safe Routes to School Program within the Department of Transportation.  Establishes a Safe Routes to School Special Fund.  Assesses a surcharge of $25 for violations of speeding in a school zone and a $10 surcharge on various traffic violations and deposits these surcharges into the Safe Routes to School Special Fund.  Deposits federal Safe Routes to School Program moneys into the Safe Routes to School Special Fund.  Effective July 1, 2012.

 

 

 

 

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