SB 2253 updates the "negligent injury in the first degree" offense to explicitly include injuries caused by drivers operating vehicles while intoxicated. This change directly affects drivers who cause injury to others while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The bill modifies the legal definition so that such incidents are prosecuted under this specific charge, ensuring they are treated as deliberate negligence under existing law. It does not change penalty levels but clarifies that intoxicated driving causing injury falls within this offense.
PART I: Requires motor vehicles to have front number plate mounting brackets or devices and for sellers, licensed dealers, or owners to securely affix number plates to the vehicles. PART II: Amends the Traffic Code relating to street racing. PART III: Expands the Automated Speed Enforcement Systems Program to high-risk locations of state or county highways as determined by the Department of Transportation, under certain conditions. Appropriates moneys. PART IV: Authorizes the installation of a school bus infraction detection system on the exterior of a school bus. Establishes strict liability and the process for issuing summons or citations for drivers shown by the system to be in violation of certain school bus laws. Clarifies the liability of drivers near a school bus that is actively monitored by a school bus infraction detection system. Appropriates moneys. PART V: Specifies that the Department of Transportation's Motor Vehicle Safety Office shall administer the Photo Red Light Imaging Detector Systems Program Special Fund and Automated Speed Enforcement Systems Program Special Fund. PART VI: Clarifies language relating to photo red light enforcement, automated speed enforcement, and penalty provisions. PART VII: Requires the Director of Transportation to adopt rules allowing for mobile vehicle safety inspections of passenger cars. Effective 7/1/3000; provided that part IV, except the rule-making directive and appropriation, effective 7/1/2028. (SD2)
This Senate Concurrent Resolution urges the Department of Land and Natural Resources to transfer several state-owned parcels in the East Kapolei Transit-Oriented Development Project to the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation. The resolution also asks the Housing Corporation to partner with the Hawaii Community Development Authority to handle non-housing community development and infrastructure work across the project area. These agencies are being encouraged to coordinate their roles based on their existing expertise, with the Housing Corporation leading housing development and the Community Development Authority managing infrastructure improvements. The bill does not mandate these actions but formally requests the agencies to align their responsibilities for this mixed-use development that includes affordable housing, commercial spaces, and transit support facilities.
Restructures the conveyance tax to a marginal rate system for the sale of properties with residential use, adjusts the tax for multifamily properties to reflect value on a per-unit basis, and applies a cost-of-living adjustment to conveyance tax rates. Allocates revenues from conveyance tax collections. Allocates a portion of conveyance tax collections to the Dwelling Unit Revolving Fund to fund infrastructure programs in areas that meet minimum standards of transit-supportive density. Allocates a portion of conveyance tax revenues to the Hawaii Agricultural Development Revolving Fund, Special Land and Development Fund, and Hawaiian Home Lands Infrastructure and Housing Special Fund. Establishes and appropriates funds out of the Hawaiian Home Lands Infrastructure and Housing Special Fund. Authorizes the Hawaii Agricultural Development Revolving Fund to be used to acquire land. Effective 7/1/3000. (SD1)
Requires the Department of Transportation to institute proceedings to condemn certain lands in Lahaina to build a new access road from Keawe Street to the Kilohana and Kalaiola sites developed in the Villages of Leialii. Appropriates funds out of the Major Disaster Fund for the appraisals and other preparations for the condemnation proceedings. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD2)
Requires all state and county agencies to utilize applicable federal clean energy tax credits, pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, for the purchase and financing of capital improvement projects that use clean energy technology and zero-emission vehicles. Effective 7/1/2050. (SD1)
Specifies that operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant while a highly intoxicated driver is a misdemeanor for a first offense, or any offense not preceded within a ten-year period. Specifies and imposes additional sentencing and probation requirements for a person convicted of a misdemeanor operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant offense. Upgrades the offense of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant while a highly intoxicated driver to a class C felony under certain conditions. Specifies and imposes additional sentencing and probation requirements for a class C felony offense of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant while a highly intoxicated driver. Prohibits a deferred acceptance of guilty plea for persons convicted of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
Part I: Requires drivers of vehicles approaching stationary motor vehicles stopped in any location on the roadway, shoulder, or roadside to slow down and make a lane change if necessary. Part II: Prohibits the operation of a pickup truck with a passenger seated in the bed or load-carrying area on roadways with posted speed limits of forty-six miles per hour or higher and roadways with three or more lanes traveling in the same direction. Provides certain exemptions from passenger restrictions. Increases the minimum age to ride in the bed or load-carrying area of a pickup truck while in operation from twelve years of age to eighteen years of age. 0Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
SB 2463 lowers the legal blood alcohol content (BAC) threshold for driving under the influence of intoxicants. It directly affects drivers operating vehicles who are impaired by alcohol or other intoxicants, making it easier for authorities to charge drivers with DUI at lower BAC levels. The key provision reduces the current legal limit for intoxication while driving, shifting the point at which impairment becomes a legal violation. This change would impact all drivers subject to DUI laws, potentially expanding the scope of enforceable offenses. The bill passed committee with amendments in early 2026.
Clarifies a driver's obligations at crosswalks. Requires drivers to stop and remain stopped for pedestrians in crosswalks. Strengthens penalties for traffic violations, particularly in school zones. Expands the offense of negligent injury in the second degree to include bodily injury to a vulnerable user by the operation of a vehicle in a negligent manner. Effective 7/1/3000. (HD1)
