STAND. COM. REP. NO. 411

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 765

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 765 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO OPERATING A VEHICLE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF AN INTOXICANT,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Define "highly intoxicated driver";

 

     (2)  Provide the evidentiary standard for establishing that a person was a highly intoxicated driver;

 

     (3)  Require that ignition interlock devices be installed and maintained on one or more vehicles registered to, and all vehicles operated by, anyone convicted of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant, during the applicable period of license revocation;

 

     (4)  Increase the license revocation period ordered by the Administrative Driver's License Revocation Office and extend the applicable lookback periods from five to ten years;

 

     (5)  Establish higher penalties for a highly intoxicated driver operating a vehicle; and

 

     (6)  Establish higher penalties for offenses of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of the County of Kauai, Honolulu Police Department, Maui Police Department, MADD Hawaii, Hawaii Strategic Highways Safety Plan Core Committee, and one individual.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Public Defender, Malolo Charters, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that the habitual "highly intoxicated driver," or someone who has been arrested and convicted many times over, poses a substantial risk to others on the road.  Despite their repeated arrests and convictions, these drivers continue to drive while intoxicated.  This measure aims to strengthen the current law regarding operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 765, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 765, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

 

 

 

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair