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House Transportation committee approves bill extending review deadlines for administrative license revocations
Summary
The House Committee on Transportation voted to pass Senate Bill 597 with technical amendments on March 20, 2025, extending the deadlines for written review decisions in Hawaii’s administrative driver's license revocation process to allow time for chemical testing, especially from neighbor islands and out-of-state labs.
The House Committee on Transportation on March 20, 2025, voted to pass Senate Bill 597 with amendments that extend the deadlines the Administrative Driver's License Revocation Office must meet when issuing written review decisions after a notice of administrative revocation.
The change replaces the current, shorter statutory timelines with a requirement that a written review decision be issued no later than 14 days after notice in one instance and 28 days after notice in another, per committee amendment. The committee also deferred the bill's effective date to July 1, 3000 as a technical placeholder during amendment adoption.
Deputy Attorney General Mark Tom, testifying for the Department of the Attorney General, told the committee that the bill responds to delays in forensic toxicology testing used in OVUII cases (operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant). "A lot of the neighbor islands, when they do their testing and have to send it out, it takes longer to get the results back," Tom said, explaining that a scarcity of in-state forensic toxicology labs and the need to send some samples to the mainland have made the shorter statutory timelines unworkable.
Larry Dill, Administrator for Highways at the Department of Transportation, said DOT supported the bill as filed and stood on its written testimony. Representatives of the Hawaii Police Department and the County of Hawaii Office of the Prosecuting Attorney were recorded as supporting the measure; the Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition also registered support. An individual, Frank Schultz, appeared on the register in opposition.
Committee members asked for and were given a clarification that the prior statutory deadlines in practice were eight and 22 days; the department said that timeline created difficulty because of shipping times from neighbor islands and to the mainland. The committee adopted amendments to reset the timelines to 14 and 28 days.
The chair moved the committee recommendation to pass the bill with amendments; the motion was adopted. The record shows the chair and vice chair voted aye; Representatives Evslin, Miyake, Moraoka and Pierrick also recorded aye votes. Representatives Cochran, Kitagawa and LaChica were excused.
The bill, as amended, will move out of committee for further consideration by the Legislature.
