STAND. COM. REP. NO. 335

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: S.B. No. 1620

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations and Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 1620 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLE INSURANCE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purposes of this measure as received by your Committee are to remove the authority of the court to grant community service in lieu of a fine to uninsured motorists, and to require persons who borrow vehicles to ensure that the vehicle is properly insured.

You Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Police Department, the Honolulu Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, and the Hawaii Bicycle League. The Judiciary, the Office of the Public Defender, and a concerned citizen testified in opposition to this measure. The Insurance Commissioner submitted comments deferring to the Judiciary.

Your Committees agree with the intent of this measure, which is to stiffen the penalties for driving without insurance. Ultimately the State and other insured motorists pay the costs of accidents involving uninsured motorists.

Your Committees find that this measure will help curb that unfairness somewhat. Under this bill, persons violating our mandatory insurance laws will be fined and the court will have no discretion to award community service in lieu of that fine. Also, persons who borrow vehicles to drive must check to ensure that the borrowed vehicle is properly insured.

Your Committees amended this measure to reinstate the court's discretionary authority to award community service.

Your Committees further amended the provisions of this measure regarding the good faith defense to motor vehicle insurance violations. Instead of disallowing the defense completely, as the original measure proposed, your Committees reinstated the defense but inserted language to place the burden of proof on the person asserting the defense.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1620, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1620, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing.

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

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BRIAN KANNO, Chair

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CAL KAWAMOTO, Chair