§271-25  Accounts, records, and reports. 
(a)  The public utilities commission may require annual, periodical, or special
reports from all motor carriers, prescribe the manner and form in which the
reports shall be made, and require from the carriers specific and full, true,
and correct answers to all questions upon which the commission may deem
information to be necessary.  The annual reports shall give an account of the
affairs of the carrier in such form and detail as may be prescribed by the
commission.  The commission may also require any motor carrier to file with it
a true copy of any contract, agreement, or arrangement between the carrier and
any other carrier or person in relation to any traffic affected by this
chapter.  The commission shall not, however, make public any contract,
agreement, or arrangement between a contract carrier by motor vehicle and a
shipper, or any of the terms or conditions thereof, except as a part of the
record in a formal proceeding where it considers the action consistent with the
public interest; provided that if it appears from an examination of any such
contract that it fails to conform to the published schedule of the contract
carrier by motor vehicle as required by section 271-22(a), the commission may,
in its discretion, make public such of the provisions of the contract as the
commission considers necessary to disclose such failure and the extent thereof.



(b)  The annual reports shall contain all the
required information for the period of twelve months ending on December 31 in
each year, unless the commission shall specify a different date, and shall be
made out under oath and filed with the commission within three months after the
close of the year for which the report is made, unless additional time be
granted in any case by the commission.  Such periodical or special reports as
may be required by the commission under subsection (a) shall also be under
oath, whenever the commission so requires.



(c)  The commission may prescribe for motor
carriers the classes of property for which depreciation charges may properly be
included under operating expenses, and the rate or rates of depreciation which
shall be charged with respect to each of the classes of property, classifying
the carriers as it may deem proper for this purpose.  The commission may, when
it deems necessary, modify the classes and rates so prescribed.  When the
commission shall have exercised its authority under the foregoing provisions of
this subsection, motor carriers shall not charge to operating expenses any
depreciation charges on classes of property other than those prescribed by the
commission, or charge with respect to any class of property a rate of
depreciation other than that prescribed therefor by the commission, and no
carrier shall include under operating expenses any depreciation charge in any
form other than as prescribed by the commission.



(d)  The commission may, in its discretion,
prescribe the forms of any and all accounts, records, and memoranda to be kept
by motor carriers and lessors, including the accounts, records, and memoranda
of the movement of traffic, as well as of the receipts and expenditures of
moneys.  The commission may issue orders specifying the operating, accounting,
or financial papers, records, books, blanks, tickets, stubs, correspondence, or
documents of motor carriers or lessors as may after a reasonable time be
destroyed, and prescribing the length of time the same shall be preserved.  The
commission or its duly authorized special agents, accountants, or examiners shall
at all times have access to and authority, under its order, to inspect and
examine any and all lands, buildings, or equipment of motor carriers and
lessors and shall have authority to inspect and copy any and all accounts,
books, records, memoranda, correspondence, and other documents of carriers and
lessors (as defined in this section), and such accounts, books, records,
memoranda, correspondence, and other documents of any person controlling,
controlled by, or under common control with any such carriers, as the
commission deems relevant to the person's relation to or transaction with the
carriers.  Motor carriers, lessors, and aforesaid persons shall submit their
accounts, books, records, memoranda, correspondence, and other documents for
the inspection and copying authorized by this subsection, and motor carriers
and lessors shall submit their lands, buildings, and equipment for examination
and inspection, to any duly authorized special agent, accountant, or examiner
of the commission upon demand and display of proper credentials.  As used in
this subsection, the words "keep" and "kept" mean made,
prepared, or compiled, as well as retained; the term "lessor" means a
lessor of any right to operate as a motor carrier; and the term "motor
carrier" or "lessor" includes a receiver or trustee of any such
motor carrier or lessor.



(e)  No report by any motor carrier of any
accident arising in the course of the operation of such carriers, made pursuant
to any requirement of the commission, and no report by the commission of any
investigation of any accident, shall be admitted as evidence, or used for any
other purpose, in any suit or action for damages growing out of any matter
mentioned in the report or investigation. [L 1961, c 121, pt of §2; Supp,
§106C-23; HRS §271-25]