LIHU‘E — The state House of Representatives said “no” almost three weeks ago, but the state Senate was still toying with the idea until Tuesday of allowing mopeds on bike paths.
But today when a Senate committee hears a bill allowing mopeds on bike paths, the bill will be already dead if the words of Kaua‘i’s state senator are correct.
“The bill won’t be moving out of the Ways and Means Committee on Thursday and is done for the remainder of this session as far as we are concerned,” Sen. Ron Kouchi, D-Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau, said on Tuesday.
The bill began with concerns from a group of bicyclists on Maui, according to Kouchi.
“Their original intent was to remove mopeds from the bike path,” Kouchi said, adding that the wording of the bill allows mopeds to use the path whenever there are no bike lanes available.
After realizing there aren’t that many bike paths on Maui and the bill would actually put more mopeds on the path, Kouchi met with Sens. Kalani English, D-Maui, Molokai, and David Ige, D-Pearl City, ‘Aiea, and agreed that the bill was not meeting its original intent.
“This is not what we are trying to do, and that’s why the bill is going to be held up,” Kouchi said.
Tommy Noyes, a board member of Kaua‘i Path, said Tuesday the nonprofit organization wants to assure mopeds are not legal on any paths in the state.
SB 2045 “prohibits moped drivers from using bicycle paths where bicycle lanes are provided.” A companion bill, House Bill 1759 proposed the same but was deferred Feb. 2 upon the recommendation of the House Transportation Committee. The deferral caused the House bill to die off for the remainder of this legislative session.
SB 2045, however, cleared the Senate Transportation and International Affairs Committee on Feb. 6, with six out of seven senators, including Kouchi, voting for the bill to pass unamended — one senator didn’t vote because of an excused absence. On Feb. 9, the Senate bill passed second reading, and today the Senate Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to consider the bill.
Kouchi is a member of both Senate committees. He said because there are no bike lanes on Kaua‘i, the bill would put mopeds “onto our path.”
Testimony submitted by Wayne Yoshioka, director of Honolulu’s Department of Transportation Services, called the bill redundant and unnecessary.
“Hawai‘i Revised Statute (HRS) 291C-197 (a) already requires mopeds to use bike lanes when present and HRS 291C-I97 (b) gives the counties the option to prohibit mopeds on bike paths by ordinance,” Yoshioka wrote.
Kaua‘i currently does not allow motorized vehicles on bike paths, which would confirm Yoshioka’s reasoning that the bill is redundant.
The bill’s short but somewhat confusing wording may have puzzled English, the chair of the Transportation and International Affairs Committee.
He sent a committee report to Senate President Shan Tsutsui, D-Wailuku, Pa‘ia, stating the committee “received testimony in support of this measure from the state Department of Transportation, Maui County, Maui Bicycle Alliance and three individuals.”
However, none of the groups or agencies cited by English supported the bill. They all said they would support it if mopeds would not be allowed on bike paths. The Maui County Council supported the bill, but not the county, and even then it wasn’t unanimous support.
Kouchi said English and Ige agree the bill does not meet its intended result, and added, “Sen. English also does not support having the mopeds on the bike path.”
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
