Owners of derelict vehicles would able to have them removed free of charge under a proposed new bill.
Puna Councilman Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder will introduce at Tuesday’s meeting of the County Council’s Committee on Regenerative Agriculture, Water, Energy and Environmental Management a bill that would allow owners of broken-down vehicles to apply for the county to remove them from private property.
“Right now, we have a program where if you tow an abandoned vehicle to the county, you pay for the cost of the tow, and the county handles the rest of the vehicle disposal,” Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder said, explaining that his bill also would have the county arranging and paying for towing.
Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder said the bill would create a program that would be funded through vehicle registration fees collected by the county, which already include a disposal fee.
He said the program might limit how many times a person could use it per year. The current Vehicle Disposal Assistance Program limits users to two disposals per year.
According to the text of the bill, applicants would need to ensure that the car in question is located and accessible on their property, although it does not necessarily require that the car be theirs.
Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder said the new program would reduce the workload for the Hawaii Police Department by giving people ways to dispose of cars before they are abandoned.
“People are disposing of vehicles on public roadways because they know they’ll get a free pick-up,” Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder said. “But first, the police need to take a look at the vehicle, then the Department of Environmental Management has to examine the vehicle to make sure it isn’t leaking.”
Gene Quiamas, deputy chief of the Department of Environmental Management’s Solid Waste Division, said there were 602 abandoned vehicles removed in East Hawaii in 2021, with an additional 1,111 in West Hawaii, although he could not say how many of those removals were conducted through the vehicle disposal program.
If approved, the bill also would save users a hefty towing fee, which Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder speculated is a significant factor preventing some people from disposing vehicles. He added that even though people can abandon cars on the side of the road and face only a minor fine, more people will choose a legal, free option.
“We see some cars in people’s yards that have been there for 20 years, that you know do not run,” Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder said. “But a lot of us, at the end of the month, don’t have an extra $600 to spend on getting a tow.”
Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder said the Department of Environmental Management is finalizing what the application for the program will entail, but, should the County Council vote to approve the bill, the program could be available by the end of the year.
The Committee on Regenerative Agriculture, Water, Energy and Environmental Management will meet to discuss the bill at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.