STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2328

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2326

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Transportation and Energy, to which was referred S.B. No. 2326 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TOWING,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to ensure individuals who have failed to pay for parking because of an inoperable ticket issuing machine are not unfairly punished by prohibiting a towing company from towing a vehicle that has failed to pay for parking if the ticket issuing machine is inoperable.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that having a car towed can be stressful and costly, and having a car towed even though the driver is not at fault can be especially burdensome.  Your Committee concludes that this measure enhances consumer protection by ensuring that drivers who have not paid for parking due to an inoperable ticketing machine will not have their cars towed.

 

     However, your Committee finds that while protecting drivers from towing when the driver cannot pay due to an inoperable ticket issuing machine can reduce stress, drivers might still feel stressed by not knowing what to do when the ticket issuing machine is inoperable.  Your Committee believes that providing clear instructions is important in maintaining consumer protection.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure to:

 

     (1)  Require owners or operators of parking ticket issuing machines to list a customer service number on a visible, unobstructed location on the ticket issuing machine;

 

     (2)  Require a client to call the customer service number listed on an inoperable ticket issuing machine within two hours of recognizing that the ticket issuing machine is inoperable to avoid being subject to towing;

 

     (3)  Require an owner or operator to respond within ten minutes of the initial call by a client that the ticket issuing machine is inoperable and to send an attendant to service the ticket issuing machine within thirty minutes; and

 

     (4)  Add a definition of "client".

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation and Energy that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2326, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2326, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Energy,

 

 

 

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LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair