STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1029

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 167
                                        H.D. 3
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Transportation and Intergovernmental
Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 167, H.D. 3, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLE DRIVER
     LICENSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to strengthen the motor
vehicle driver's license laws to improve driver education and
safety for minors.

     Specifically, this measure:

     (1)  Establishes a statewide driver education program and a
          behind-the-wheel driver training program whereby
          certified completion of the program shall substitute
          certain driver's license examination requirements;

     (2)  Requires applicants for a driver's instruction permit
          to complete a driver education course;

     (3)  Requires the courts to revoke the license of any driver
          under age eighteen, who is convicted of, or found to
          have committed a traffic infraction, other than
          parking, standing, and equipment offenses, and offenses
          by pedestrians; and


 
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     (4)  Requires that the notice of traffic infraction include
          a description of the mandatory revocation provisions.

     Testimony in support of this measure was received from the
Department of Customer Services of the City and County of
Honolulu.  The Department of Transportation, Governor's Highway
Safety Council, and the Police Department of the City and County
of Honolulu submitted testimony in support of the intent of this
measure with suggested amendments.  The Department of Education
and State Farm Insurance Companies opposed this measure in its
current form.

     Your Committee finds that new drivers, especially teenagers,
need more and better education programs and training prior to
obtaining a driver's license.  In Hawaii and nationwide, crash
injuries are the number one cause of injury and death among
persons between the ages of sixteen and nineteen years.  Teenage
drivers in Hawaii are more than twice as likely to be in a fatal
crash as adult drivers.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by replacing its
contents with the provisions of the Senate version, Senate Bill
No. 1169, S.D. 1, which includes language that:

     (1)  Establishes a driving curfew between the hours of 11
          p.m. and 4 a.m. for all minors under the age of
          eighteen, unless accompanied by a licensed driver over
          age twenty-one, or when driving is necessary for school
          or work activities, or the minor is an emancipated
          minor; 

     (2)  Subjects persons holding an instruction permit to the
          provisions of this measure when it becomes effective
          and requires them to take the behind-the-wheel training
          program before obtaining a license;

     (3)  Subjects persons under eighteen and holding a driver's
          license to the provisions of this measure, including
          the nighttime curfew, when it becomes effective; and

     (3)  Makes this measure effective on January 1, 2001.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Transportation and Intergovernmental Affairs that is
attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the
intent and purpose of H.B. No. 167, H.D. 3, as amended herein,
and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached
hereto as H.B. No. 167, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, and be referred to the
Committee on Judiciary.

 
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Transportation
                                   and Intergovernmental Affairs,



                                   ______________________________
                                   CAL KAWAMOTO, Chair

 
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