Bill Text: HI HB2277 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: ATVs; Highways; Prohibitions

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2012-03-20 - (S) Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to JDL. [HB2277 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-HB2277-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2857

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 2277

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Transportation and International Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2277, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to enhance the public's health and safety, especially that of minors, by establishing regulations for the operation of all-terrain vehicles.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; State Fire Council; City and County of Honolulu Fire Department; Honolulu Police Department; County of Hawaii Fire Department; County of Hawaii Police Department; County of Maui Fire and Public Safety Department; County of Maui Police Department; ThinkFirst Hawaii; Concerned Families for ATV Safety; Consumer Federation of America; and Event Medics Hawaii.  Testimony in opposition was received from the American Motorcyclist Association and Hawaii Motorsport Association.

 

Your Committee finds that the regulation of all-terrain vehicles is a matter of public safety.  According to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, an estimated 135,100 all-terrain vehicle-related injuries were treated in hospital emergency rooms nationwide in 2008.  In addition, there were 9,633 reported deaths between 1982 and 2008, with fourteen of those deaths occurring in Hawaii.  Your Committee believes that the use of all-terrain vehicles is particularly dangerous for minors.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting references to the minimum age requirement for operation of an all-terrain vehicle and the prohibition on operating all-terrain vehicles bearing a certification label conforming to the American national standard in violation of the age recommendation warning label affixed by the manufacturer, as this language would effectively delegate legislative authority to the manufacturer and the measure already contains age restrictions for the operation of all-terrain vehicles;

 

     (2)  Requiring parental consent and the direct supervision of a parent, guardian, or adult for a child less than sixteen years old to operate an all-terrain vehicle;

 

     (3)  Prohibiting the operation of an all-terrain vehicle on any interstate or limited access highway, rather than crossing on the highway;

 

     (4)  Applying the eye protection and approved safety helmet requirement to all-terrain vehicle operators under sixteen years of age;

 

     (5)  Deleting the language that established prohibited acts by sellers of all-terrain vehicles;

 

     (6)  Increasing the maximum fine for a violation from $50 to $1,000;

 

     (7)  Changing the effective date to upon approval; and

 

     (8)  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 Transportation and International Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2277, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2277, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

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

 

		____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair