HB1161 would expand Hawaii’s mileage-based road usage charge framework for transportation funding. The bill keeps the existing state road usage charge for electric vehicles beginning July 1, 2025, but clarifies how the charge is calculated, sets a default charge when odometer data is missing, and extends the program to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles beginning July 1, 2026. It also authorizes counties, beginning July 1, 2028, to impose their own mileage-based road usage charge on electric vehicles, with county rates set by ordinance and subject to public hearing requirements.
The bill further revises how road-use revenues are handled. It repeals the requirement that the Department of Transportation create county subaccounts within the state highway fund, broadens the allowable uses of both the state highway fund and county highway fund, and clarifies that county-collected mileage charges are deposited into county highway funds, with special restrictions for Maui County revenues collected from Lanai and Molokai travel. It also allows rental motor vehicle companies to visibly pass mileage-charge costs to customers and includes appropriations to support implementation of the state program.
Impact
HB1161 would amend multiple sections of the Hawaii Revised Statutes governing highway funding, vehicle registration-related charges, and the state’s electric-vehicle road usage charge program. It would create new county authority under Chapter 249 to levy mileage-based charges on electric vehicles, revise Section 249-36 to refine the state charge’s rate, calculation, and default amounts, and update fund-disposition rules in Sections 248-9 and 249-18. The bill also amends the definition of vehicle license recovery fees to include state and county mileage-based road usage charges, which affects how those costs may be recovered in vehicle-related transactions. In addition, it appropriates state highway fund money for implementation and continued rollout of the program.
Sentiment
The available voting history suggests generally favorable committee sentiment. The bill passed the Senate Transportation and Culture and the Arts committee 4-1 with amendments, passed the Senate Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs committee 4-0 with amendments, and then passed Senate Ways and Means 13-0 unamended. That pattern indicates broad support for the bill’s overall direction, with some earlier committee-level refinement.
Contention
The main points of contention appear to center on the policy shift from fuel taxes to mileage-based charges, the timing of county authority, and how revenues should be distributed and used. The bill’s structure suggests debate over whether counties should be allowed to impose their own charges, whether the Department of Transportation should maintain county subaccounts, and whether the charge should be limited to electric vehicles or expanded more broadly over time. The single dissenting vote in one committee suggests at least some concern about the bill’s approach, though the record provided does not identify the specific objection or the member who opposed it.
A resolution to direct the Clerk of the House of Representatives to only present to the Governor enrolled House bills finally passed by both houses of the One Hundred Third Legislature.
Relating to nonsubstantive additions to, revisions of, and corrections in enacted codes, to the nonsubstantive codification or disposition of various laws omitted from enacted codes, and to conforming codifications enacted by the 88th Legislature to other Acts of that legislature.