Bill Text: HI HB2578 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Motor Vehicles; Certificates of Inspection
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-02-01 - Referred to TRN, CPC, referral sheet 5 [HB2578 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2016-HB2578-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
2578 |
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TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to MOTOR VEHICLE INSPECTIONS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. To optimize the effectiveness of highway safety programs, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that each state have a program for periodic safety inspections of all registered motor vehicles. Motor vehicle safety inspections are intended to reduce the number of vehicles with existing or potential conditions that may contribute to crashes or increase the severity of crashes that do occur. The legislature agrees that oversight is needed to ensure motor vehicles are kept in good working order so as not to endanger the driver, any other occupant of the motor vehicle, or any other person upon the roadway.
In an August 2015 report entitled "Vehicle Safety Inspections: Improved DOT Communication Could Better Inform State Programs", the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that only sixteen states currently require periodic motor vehicle safety inspections. Of those sixteen states, Hawaii is one of eleven that require inspections to be conducted on an annual basis, while five states require inspections to be conducted on either a biennial or other basis. Further, sixteen of the thirty-four states with no motor vehicle safety inspection requirement once required these inspections but have since repealed such programs. GAO also notes that while officials in states with existing motor vehicle safety inspection programs contend that such programs improve vehicle safety conditions, data on crash rates in relation to these programs are insufficient or inconclusive. For example, GAO analyzed crash rates before and after the elimination of motor vehicle safety inspection programs and found that rates varied little from year to year, even after the elimination of the inspection programs.
The legislature further finds that the decreased availability of safety inspectors, compounded by the increasingly limited number of hours offered to the public to receive such services, has caused annual motor vehicle safety inspections to become an undue hardship on Hawaii's residents, particularly residents living in rural areas. Amending the vehicle motor vehicle safety inspection requirements from an annual to a biennial basis, while maintaining the rate of fees charged per year, would enable the State to maintain high vehicle safety standards while addressing the needs of safety inspectors and Hawaii's drivers.
The purpose of this Act is to reduce the frequency of motor vehicle safety inspections for certain vehicles from every twelve months to every twenty-four months.
SECTION 2. Section 286-26, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:
1. By amending subsection (b) to read:
"(b) All other vehicles, including
motorcycles, trailers, semitrailers, and pole trailers having a gross vehicle
weight rating of 10,000 pounds or less, and antique motor vehicles as defined
in section 249-1, except those in subsections (c) and (d), shall be certified
as provided in subsection (e) every [twelve] twenty-four months[;
provided that any vehicle to which this subsection applies shall not require
inspection within two years of the date on which the vehicle was first sold]."
2. By amending subsection (e) to read:
"(e) Upon application for a certificate
of inspection to be issued for a vehicle, an inspection as prescribed by the
director under subsection (g) shall be conducted on the vehicle, and if the
vehicle is found to be in a safe operating condition, a certificate of
inspection shall be issued upon payment of a fee to be determined by the
director[.]; provided that the fee shall reflect the aggregate cost
as if annual inspections were conducted over the two-year certification period.
The certificate shall state the effective date, the termination date, the name
of the issuing insurance carrier, and the policy number of the motor vehicle
insurance identification card for the inspected motor vehicle as specified by
section 431:10C-107 or state the information contained in the proof of
insurance card as specified by section 431:10G-106. A sticker, authorized by
the director, shall be affixed to the vehicle at the time a certificate of
inspection is issued. An inspection sticker which has been lost, stolen, or
destroyed shall be replaced without reinspection by the inspection station that
issued the original inspection sticker upon presentation of the vehicle's current
certificate of inspection; provided that the current certificate of inspection
and inspection sticker shall not have expired at the time the replacement is
requested. The director shall adopt rules to determine the fee for replacement
of lost, stolen, or destroyed inspection stickers."
SECTION 3. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.
SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Motor Vehicles; Certificates of Inspection
Description:
Requires motor vehicle safety inspections to be conducted every two years rather than annually.
The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
