HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2444

TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO DRIVERS' LICENSES.

 

 

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

 


     SECTION 1.  The legislature recognizes that there is a need to expand the availability of remedies for nonpayment of judgments in chapter 287, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to state, county, and city agencies.  The purpose of this Act is to allow a state, county, or city governmental agency to send a certified copy of a judgment issued by a court, or an administrative order issued pursuant to a hearing held under chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, in which a person was determined to owe a debt to a governmental agency to the administrator of chapter 287.  Upon receipt of the judgment or order, the administrator shall suspend the driver's license of, or deny the issuance of a driver's license to, any person who has failed to pay a debt owed to the governmental agency.

     SECTION 2.  Section 287-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding two new definitions to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

     ""Agency" means each state or county board, commission, department, or officer authorized by law to adjudicate contested cases or any state, county, or city governmental agency charged with collecting a debt owed to a governmental agency.

     "Order" means an order issued pursuant to a hearing held in accordance with chapter 91."

     SECTION 3.  Section 287-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "judgment" to read as follows:

     ""Judgment" means any judgment, order, or decree which has become final by expiration without appeal of the time within which an appeal might have been perfected, or by final affirmation on appeal, rendered by a court of competent jurisdiction of the United States or any territory or state thereof upon a cause of action arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of any motor vehicle for damages, including damages for care and loss of services, because of bodily injury to or death of any person, or for damages because of injury to or destruction of property, including the loss of use thereof, or upon a cause of action on an agreement of settlement for such damages[;], or upon a cause of action arising out of a debt owed to a state, county, or city governmental agency;"

     SECTION 4.  Section 287-15, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§287-15  Report of nonpayment of judgments.  (a)  Whenever any person fails within sixty days to satisfy any judgment upon the written request of the judgment creditor or the judgment creditor's attorney, the clerk of the court or the judge of a court which has no clerk in which any such judgment is rendered shall forward to the administrator immediately after the expiration of the sixty days a certified copy of the judgment.

     (b)  Whenever any person fails within sixty days to satisfy a judgment or order to pay a debt owed to a state, county, or city governmental agency, the agency may forward a certified copy of the judgment or order to the administrator.

     (c)  If the defendant named in any certified copy of a judgment or order reported to the administrator is a nonresident, the administrator shall transmit a certified copy of the judgment or order to the official in charge of the issuance of licenses and registration certificates of the state of which the defendant is a resident."

     SECTION 5.  Section 287-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§287-16  Suspension for nonpayment of judgment; exceptions.  The administrator, upon the receipt of a certified copy of the judgment or order shall forthwith suspend the license of, or deny the issuance of a driver's license to, any person against whom such judgment or order was rendered, except as hereinafter otherwise provided in this section and in section 287-19.

     If the judgment creditor or governmental agency consents in writing, in such form as the administrator may prescribe, that the judgment debtor or person against whom an order was rendered be allowed a license, the same may be allowed by the administrator, in the administrator's discretion, for six months from the date of the consent and thereafter until the consent is revoked in writing, notwithstanding default in the payment of the judgment[,] or order, or of any installments thereof prescribed in section 287-19, provided the judgment debtor or person against whom an order was rendered furnished proof of financial responsibility."

     SECTION 7.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 8.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2012.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________BY REQUEST

 

 



 

Report Title:

Drivers' Licenses

 

Description:

Authorizes state, county, and city governmental agencies to use chapter 287, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to suspend the driver's license of an individual who has refused to pay a debt owed to a governmental agency, following judgment or order.

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.