Report Title:

Americans with Disabilities Act; Accessible Taxi Service

THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

49

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE RESOLUTION

 

URGING THE COUNTIES TO STUDY THE INADEQUACIES OF paratransit services for THE ELDERLY AND DISABLED, TO EXAMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE adopting COUNTY ORDINANCES or resolutions TO SUPPLEMENT paratransit services WITH TAXICAB TRANSPORTATION, AND TO EXAMINE THE POSSIBILITY OF COUNTY APPLICATION FOR FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FUNDING TO SUBSIDIZE PARATRANSIT PROGRAMS FOR THE ELDERLY AND DISABLED.

 

WHEREAS, persons with disabilities and many elderly persons are unable to use generally available modes of public transport such as buses in the State; and

WHEREAS, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 does not require private entities providing taxi services to purchase or lease vehicles, other than passenger automobiles, in order to have wheelchair-accessible vehicles in their fleets; and

WHEREAS, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 only requires accessibility for public transportation systems; and

WHEREAS, although the City and County of Honolulu currently complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 by providing "handi-cab" and "handi-van" services to the disabled and elderly, these services are still inadequate; and

WHEREAS, the owners and entities operating taxicabs and taxicab fleets are not subject to the rules of the State's Public Utilities Commission; and

WHEREAS, other states have instituted paratransit services, which are subsidized transportation programs for those who cannot use public transportation services; and

WHEREAS, cities and municipalities have sought to supplement their public transportation services by contracting with taxicab companies to participate in paratransit programs; and

WHEREAS, the County of Fairfax, Virginia adopted Ordinance No. 29-00-G-5 on June 26, 2000, codified as Code of County of Fairfax, Virginia, section 84.1-8.5(m), which requires that after January 1, 2001, every certificated operator having authority to operate twenty-five or more taxicabs shall have at least four per cent of those taxicabs qualify as handicapped accessible taxicabs; and

WHEREAS, section 46-16.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, gives the counties the authority to adopt ordinances or rules to protect the public health, safety, and welfare by licensing, controlling, and regulating public passenger vehicle service operated within the jurisdiction of the county; and

WHEREAS, under Title 49 U.S.C. section 5310, the Federal Transit Administration authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to make grants to the chief executive officer of each state for allocation to private nonprofit corporations and associations for the specific purpose of assisting them in providing transportation services meeting the special needs of elderly persons and persons with disabilities when the transportation service provided is unavailable, insufficient, or inappropriate, to public bodies approved by the state to coordinate services for elderly persons and persons with disabilities, or to public bodies which certify to the Governor that no nonprofit corporations or associations are readily available to provide the services; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, that the mayors and county councils of the respective counties are urged to conduct studies of the inadequacies of paratransit (handi-cab and handi-van) services for the elderly and disabled in their respective counties; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that these studies include the examination of the feasibility of the adopting county ordinances or resolutions to supplement paratransit services with taxicab transportation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that these studies further include an examination of the possibility of county applications for federal Department of Transportation funding to subsidize paratransit programs for the elderly and disabled; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the mayors and the county council chairpersons of the respective counties, the Directors of Transportation, Health, the Executive Office on Aging, and the Chairperson of the State Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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