HB1444 • 2026

RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES.

Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor: MATSUMOTO, ALCOS, GARCIA, IWAMOTO, KUSCH, LEE, M., LOWEN, MORIKAWA, MURAOKA, PIERICK, TODD
Last action: 2025-12-08
Official status: Carried over to 2026 Regular Session.
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how the bill updates the statute or removes outdated language, only that it changes the requirement from annually to every two years.

Motor Vehicle Safety Inspections Every Two Years

This bill changes the requirement for motor vehicle safety inspections from once a year to every two years.

What This Bill Does

Changes the law so that all vehicles, except those in specific categories, need safety inspections every two years instead of annually.

Who It Names or Affects

Vehicle owners who need to get their cars, motorcycles, trailers, and other vehicles inspected in Hawaii.

Terms To Know

Certified: To be officially approved or recognized as meeting safety standards after an inspection.
Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR): The maximum weight of a vehicle when it is fully loaded, including passengers and cargo.

Limits and Unknowns

It does not specify what happens to vehicles that are currently due for an annual inspection.
Does not address the impact on traffic safety or accident rates.
Does not provide details about how inspections will be funded under this new schedule.

Bill History

2025-12-08 D
Carried over to 2026 Regular Session.
2025-02-13 H
The committee(s) on TRN recommend(s) that the measure be deferred.
2025-02-11 H
Bill scheduled to be heard by TRN on Thursday, 02-13-25 10:00AM in House conference room 430 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
2025-01-27 H
Referred to TRN, JHA, referral sheet 4
2025-01-23 H
Introduced and Pass First Reading.

Official Summary Text

RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES.
Motor Vehicles; Certificated of Inspection
Requires motor vehicle safety inspections to be conducted every two years rather than annually.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

HB1444

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1444

THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025

STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating
to motor vehicles
.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

����
SECTION
1.
�
The legislature finds that motor
vehicle inspections are necessary to ensure vehicles are in working order,
ultimately increasing safety for all who use the roadways.
�
To optimize the effectiveness of highway
safety programs, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends
that each state have a program for periodic safety inspections of all
registered motor vehicles.
�
Inspections
are intended to reduce the number of unsafe vehicles on the road.
�
Data from a report released in August 2015, by
the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that only
sixteen states currently require periodic motor vehicle safety inspections.
�
Of those sixteen states, Hawaii is one of
eleven that require inspections to be conducted on an annual basis, while five
states require inspections to be conducted on either a biennial or other basis.

�
The results of the GAO study reveal that
annual motor vehicle inspection programs do not produce conclusive evidence of
improving vehicle safety conditions.
�
Crash
rates before and after the elimination of motor vehicles safety inspection
programs varied little from year to year following the elimination of
inspection programs.

����
SECTION 2
.
�
Section 286-26, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

����
"(b)
�
All other vehicles, including motorcycles,
mopeds, trailers, semitrailers, and pole trailers having a gross vehicle weight
rating of 10,000 pounds or less, and antique motor vehicles as defined in
section 249-1, except those in subsections (c) and (d), shall be certified as
provided in subsection (e) every [
twelve
]
twenty-four
months [
;
provided that any vehicle to which this subsection applies, except a moped,
shall not require inspection within two years of the date on which the vehicle
was first sold
]."

����
SECTION
3.
�
Statutory material to be repealed is
bracketed and stricken.
�
New statutory
material is underscored.

����
SECTION
4.
�
This Act shall take effect upon its
approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Motor
Vehicles; Certificated of Inspection

Description:

Requires motor
vehicle safety inspections to be conducted every two years rather than
annually.

The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.