Bill Text: HI SB648 | 2021 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Transportation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-02-17 - Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to JDC. [SB648 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2021-SB648-Amended.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
648 |
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THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that there are roads in Hawaii whose ownership or jurisdiction is disputed between the State and counties. The legislature further finds that the safety of persons traveling over these so called "roads in limbo" is affected by the lack of maintenance to these roads. The legislature also finds that neither state nor county agencies are willing to maintain these roads because the maintenance activities may be construed as assuming ownership and jurisdiction over the disputed roads.
The purpose of this Act is to enable government agencies to maintain roads whose ownership or jurisdiction is in dispute between the State and the counties by:
(1) Specifying that the maintenance or repair of disputed roads by any agency shall not be deemed to be an indication that the agency has assumed ownership or jurisdiction of the disputed road; and
(2) Allowing the State to transfer by quitclaim any interest it has in a disputed road if the county requests title to the disputed road.
SECTION 2. Chapter 27, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part V to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§27- Maintenance or repair of disputed public
streets, roads, or highways; quitclaim. (a)
Whenever ownership of a public street, road, or highway remains in dispute
between the State and a county, any action by a government agency to maintain
or repair a public street, road, or highway shall not be used to establish the
agency's ownership of, or jurisdiction over, the public street, road, or
highway and the agency shall not be deemed to have assumed ownership of, or
jurisdiction over, the public street, road, or highway solely because of action
to maintain or repair a public street, road, or highway.
(b) If a county requests or requires title to a
disputed public street, road, or highway, the State may transfer by quitclaim any
interest it has in the public street, road, or highway to the county.
(c) For the purposes of this section, "disputed public street, road, or highway" means any highway, road, alley, street, way, lane, bikeway, bridge, or trial that is open to the public for which there is a dispute over ownership and jurisdiction, as determined by the department of transportation, between the State or any of its political subdivisions and a county or a private party or between a county and a private party."
SECTION 3. Section 46-15.9, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§46-15.9 Traffic regulation; repair and maintenance;
public right to use public streets, roads, or highways whose ownership is in
dispute. (a)
Any provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, any county and its
authorized personnel may impose and enforce traffic laws and shall enforce chapters
249; 286; 287; 291; 291C; 291E; 431, articles 10C and 10G; and 486, part III on
public streets, roads, or highways whose ownership is in dispute between the
State and the county.
(b) Any
provision of the law to the contrary notwithstanding, any county and its authorized
personnel may repair or maintain, in whole or in part, public streets, roads,
or highways whose ownership is in dispute between the State and the county.
(c)
No presumption that a county owns a particular street, road, or highway
shall arise as a result of the county's performance of the activities allowed
by subsection (a) or (b).
(d)
If a county requests or requires title to a disputed public street, road,
or highway, the State may transfer by quitclaim any interest it has in the public
street, road, or highway to the county.
[(d)] (e) The general public shall have the unrestricted
right to use public streets, roads, or highways whose ownership is in dispute
between the State and the county to access the shoreline and other public recreational
areas; provided that this subsection shall not apply to any private street,
road, or highway whose ownership is in dispute.
[(e)] (f) As used in this section[:
"Public recreational area"],
"public recreational area" means coastal and inland recreational
areas, including beaches, shores, public parks, public lands, public trails,
and bodies of water opened to the public for recreational use."
SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is
bracketed and stricken. New statutory
material is underscored.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2050.
Report Title:
Disputed Roads; Road Maintenance; Quitclaim
Description:
Specifies that a government agency does not assume ownership or jurisdiction over a disputed road solely through maintenance or repair activities. Authorizes the State to transfer ownership of roads in favor of counties by quitclaim if requested by the county. Takes effect 1/1/50. (SD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
