HB 1444: RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to motor vehicles.

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

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that motor vehicle inspections are necessary to ensure vehicles are in working order, ultimately increasing safety for all who use the roadways.  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.  Inspections are intended to reduce the number of unsafe vehicles on the road.  Data from a report released in August 2015, by 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.  The results of the GAO study reveal that annual motor vehicle inspection programs do not produce conclusive evidence of improving vehicle safety conditions.  Crash rates before and after the elimination of motor vehicles safety inspection programs varied little from year to year following the elimination of inspection programs.

     SECTION 2.  Section 286-26, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

     "(b)  All other vehicles, including motorcycles, mopeds, 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, except a moped, shall not require inspection within two years of the date on which the vehicle was first sold]."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Report Title:

Motor Vehicles; Certificated of Inspection

Description:

Requires motor vehicle safety inspections to be conducted every two years rather than annually.

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