§431:10C-117  Penalties.

(a)  (1)  Any person subject to this article in thecapacity of the operator, owner, or registrant of a motor vehicle operated inthis State, or registered in this State, who violates any applicable provisionof this article, shall be subject to citation for the violation by any countypolice department in a form and manner approved by the traffic violationsbureau of the district court of the first circuit;

(2)  Notwithstanding any provision of the Hawaii PenalCode:

(A)  Each violation shall be deemed a separateoffense and shall be subject to a fine of not less than $100 nor more than$5,000 which shall not be suspended except as provided in subparagraph (B); and

(B)  If the person is convicted of not havinghad a motor vehicle insurance policy in effect at the time the citation wasissued, the fine shall be $500 for the first offense and a minimum of $1,500for each subsequent offense that occurs within a five-year period from anyprior offense; provided that the judge:

(i)  Shall have the discretion to suspend all orany portion of the fine if the defendant provides proof of having a currentmotor vehicle insurance policy; provided further that upon the defendant'srequest, the judge may grant community service in lieu of the fine, of not lessthan seventy-five hours and not more than one hundred hours for the firstoffense, and not less than two hundred hours nor more than two hundredseventy-five hours for the second offense; and

(ii)  May grant community service in lieu of thefine for subsequent offenses at the judge's discretion;

(3)  In addition to the fine in paragraph (2), thecourt shall either:

(A)  Suspend the driver's license of the driveror of the registered owner for:

(i)  Three months for the first conviction; and

(ii)  One year for any subsequent offense withina five-year period from a previous offense;

provided that the driver or theregistered owner shall not be required to obtain proof of financialresponsibility pursuant to section 287-20; or

(B)  Require the driver or the registered ownerto keep a nonrefundable motor vehicle insurance policy in force for six months;

(4)  Any person cited under this section shall have anopportunity to present a good faith defense, including but not limited to lackof knowledge or proof of insurance.  The general penalty provision of thissection shall not apply to:

(A)  Any operator of a motor vehicle owned byanother person if the operator's own insurance covers such driving;

(B)  Any operator of a motor vehicle owned bythat person's employer during the normal scope of that person's employment; or

(C)  Any operator of a borrowed motor vehicleif the operator holds a reasonable belief that the subject vehicle is insured;

(5)  In the case of multiple convictions for drivingwithout a valid motor vehicle insurance policy within a five-year period fromany prior offense, the court, in addition to any other penalty, shall imposethe following penalties:

(A)  Imprisonment of not more than thirty days;

(B)  Suspension or revocation of the motorvehicle registration plates of the vehicle involved;

(C)  Impoundment, or impoundment and sale, ofthe motor vehicle for the costs of storage and other charges incident toseizure of the vehicle, or any other cost involved pursuant to section431:10C-301; or

(D)  Any combination of those penalties; and

(6)  Any violation as provided in subsection (a)(2)(B)shall not be deemed to be a traffic infraction as defined by chapter 291D.

(b)  Any person, in the capacity of a licensedor unlicensed motor vehicle insurer, self-insurer, producer, or otherrepresentative, who violates any provision of this article shall be assessed acivil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for each violation.

(c)  Any person, in the capacity of a licensedor unlicensed motor vehicle insurer, self-insurer, producer, or otherrepresentative, who knowingly violates any provision of this article shall beassessed a civil penalty of not less than $3,000 and not to exceed $10,000 foreach violation.

(d)  (1)  Violations of subsections (b) and (c) shallbe subject to the construction that each repetition of such act shallconstitute a separate violation; and

(2)  The imposition of any civil penalty undersubsection (a), (b), or (c) shall be in addition to, and shall not in any waylimit or affect the application of, any other civil or criminal penalty, orpublic safety condition or requirement, provided by law. [L 1987, c 347, pt of§2; am L 1988, c 345, §1; am L 1989, c 348, §1; am L 1990, c 167, §1; am L1993, c 205, §25; am L Sp 1993, c 4, §4; am L 1996, c 20, §1; ree L 1997, c 2,§11 and am c 251, §27; am L 1998, c 231, §2 and c 275, §9; am L 2002, c 155,§69; am L 2006, c 195, §1]

 

Case Notes

 

  Applies to repeat offenders and to defendants being sentencedat a single proceeding.  751 F. Supp. 1420.

  Borrower of a vehicle cannot assert a good-faith defensewithout at least inquiring of the owner whether or not the vehicle is insured. 71 H. 178, 787 P.2d 214.

  Where State conceded that appellant had borrowed uninsuredvehicle from a friend, in order to defeat lack of knowledge defense, State wasrequired to prove beyond reasonable doubt that appellant actually knew that thevehicle was uninsured at the time appellant was operating it.  78 H. 86, 890P.2d 673.

  As §571-1 mandates against treating juvenile adjudications asconvictions, appellate court erred in holding that defendant's prior juvenileadjudication of driving without no-fault insurance constituted a conviction forpurposes of applying the repeat offender sentencing provisions of this section(1993) to defendant's subsequent offense of driving without no-faultinsurance.  92 H. 521, 993 P.2d 555.

  Section mandates that an insurer be fined if it violates§431:10C-207 but gives the commissioner some discretion as to the amount of thefine; commissioner's imposition of $3,000 fine was not an abuse of discretionas it satisfied the statutory requirements.  104 H. 261, 88 P.3d 196.

  Certified copy of a person's traffic abstract is satisfactoryevidence to establish the person's prior no no-fault insurance conviction;State not required to show defendant was counseled at time of prior no no-faultinsurance conviction; there was insufficient proof of defendant's priorconviction to support enhanced sentence for no no-fault insurance offense,where record disclosed no evidence to tie defendant with [person with the samename] of the traffic abstract.  9 H. App. 516, 852 P.2d 476.

  Pursuant to §431:10C-117(a)(2) (1992) good faith defense and§431:10C-117(a)(2)(C) (1992) reasonable belief defense, borrower of a motorvehicle has a statutory right to reasonably believe that borrowed motor vehicleis insured.  If one or more relevant facts reasonably required borrower toinquire, borrower then had a duty to inquire until borrower reasonably believedthat motor vehicle was insured.  10 H. App. 519, 879 P.2d 566.

  It was the "obvious intention" of the legislatureto authorize the retroactive application of the part of Act 167, L 1990, thatauthorized the sentencing court the discretion to impose a sentence ofcommunity service instead of a fine.  77 H. 476 (App.), 888 P.2d 376.

  Where defendant was sentenced pursuant to subsection (a)(2),because the district court may have been unaware of the applicability of quotedparts of §§706-641 and 706-642 and of its discretionary authority to sentencedefendant to perform community service rather than to pay the fine, appellatecourt vacated the part of the sentence ordering defendant to pay a $1,000 fineand remanded that part for resentencing.  77 H. 476 (App.), 888 P.2d 376.

  An officer who has grounds to arrest individual for drivingwithout no-fault insurance is required to issue summons or citation in lieu ofphysically taking defendant to police station or court.  78 H. 98 (App.), 890P.2d 685.

  When trial court revoked driver's suspended sentence, itlacked authority to do so where the State, despite knowledge that driver hadbeen arrested for another no-motor-vehicle-insurance charge, did not move torevoke driver's suspended sentence within the suspended sentence period, anddriver was not convicted of the second citation charge until after thesuspended sentence period for the first citation had already expired.  106 H.391 (App.), 105 P.3d 1197.