Report Title:

Driver's licenses

 

Description:

Repeals requirement of proof of behind-the-wheel driving training for minor driver's license applicants. Repeals the minimum age requirement of fifteen years and six months for driver's license and permit applicants. Repeals the requirement that the director of transportation establish and certify a statewide driver education program and behind-the-wheel driver training program.

 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1271

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to motor vehicle driver licensing.

 

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

SECTION 1. Section 286-104, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§286-104 What persons shall not be licensed. The examiner of drivers shall not issue any license hereunder:

(1) To any person whose license has been suspended by a court of competent jurisdiction during the suspension period; nor to any person whose license has been revoked until the expiration of one year after the date of the revocation, or until the expiration of the period of revocation specified by law, whichever is greater; nor to any person who, while unlicensed, has within two years been convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs;

(2) To any person who is required by this part to take an examination, unless such person has successfully passed the examination;

(3) To any person who is required under the motor vehicle financial responsibility laws of this State to deposit proof of financial responsibility and who has not deposited such proof;

(4) To any person when the examiner of drivers has good cause to believe that such person by reason of physical or mental disability would not be able to operate a motor vehicle with safety upon the highways; or

(5) To any person who is under eighteen years of age; provided that a person who is fifteen [years and six months may be granted an instruction permit; and provided further that a person who is sixteen] to seventeen years of age may be granted a license upon satisfying the requirements of sections 286-108 and 286-109, which license shall be valid for four years and may be suspended or revoked by a judge having jurisdiction over the holder of the license. Upon revocation of the license, the person shall not be eligible to operate a motor vehicle on the highway until the person is eighteen years of age and has again satisfied the requirements of sections 286-108 and 286-109.

Any person denied a license under this or any other section of this part shall have a right of appeal as provided in section 286-129."

SECTION 2. Section 286-108, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) [The] Except as provided in subsection (c), the [examiner of drivers shall require proof from every applicant under the age of eighteen that the applicant has completed a driver education program and a behind-the-wheel driver training course certified by the director of transportation. The] examiner of drivers shall not examine any applicant for a driver's license who is [sixteen] fifteen through seventeen years of age unless the applicant holds a valid instruction permit under section 286-110, for a period of no fewer than ninety days."

SECTION 3. Section 286-110, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

1. By amending subsection (a) to read:

"(a) Any person [aged fifteen years and six months or more] who, except for the person's lack of instruction in operating a motor vehicle, would be qualified to obtain a driver's license issued under this part may apply for a temporary instruction permit at the office of the examiner of drivers in the county in which the applicant resides."

2. By amending subsection (c) to read:

"(c) If the examiner of drivers is satisfied that the applicant is qualified to receive an instruction permit, the examiner of drivers shall issue the permit entitling the applicant, while having the permit in the applicant's immediate possession, to drive a motor vehicle upon the highways for a period of one hundred eighty days; provided that an applicant who is registered in a driver training course shall be issued a temporary instruction permit for the duration of the course and the termination date of the course shall be entered on the permit. [A person who is not licensed to operate the category of motor vehicles to which the driving training course applies shall not operate a motor vehicle in connection with the driving training course without a valid temporary instruction permit.]"

SECTION 4. Section 4 of Act 175, Session Laws of Hawaii 1999, is repealed.

["SECTION 4. The director of transportation is directed to establish and certify a statewide driver education program and behind-the-wheel driver training program, to include the number of course hours, curriculum, and certification of teachers and third-party examiners. The director of transportation is also directed to set a cost for the programs to enable the programs to be self-sufficient. The director of transportation shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, necessary for the purposes of this Act."]

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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