Fines should not hit buyers of used cars
The unfairness is so plain, it screams out from a mile away. Who could imagine a law that forces you to pay the penalty for someone else's rule-breaking?
And yet this is precisely what the state expects us to swallow. The Judiciary is enforcing a law, on the books for 12 years, that makes a new owner of a used car liable for parking tickets issued to the previous owner. The usually unwitting buyer gets the bad news when he or she tries to register — or later, re-register — the purchase.
What makes this especially offensive is that there's no real way the car buyer could know for sure whether there were fines to pay. The Judiciary has plans to make the data searchable on the Web in about a month, but for the moment a buyer's best bet is to hike down to District Court on Alakea Street and check the car's records.
And even after making that effort, there's still a chance that the fines could pop up when buyers renew registration a year from now. That's because there's a delay between the time traffic tickets are written and they show up in state databases, online or not. The state plans to make data on outstanding fines more easily searchable and up to date, as well as technology upgrades to ease collections from the ticket holder, but that hasn't happened yet.
Meanwhile, officials estimate that at roughly $2 million annually may be lost in unpaid tickets, admittedly no small chunk of change. Regardless: The only just solution for the department that's dedicated to justice is to stick the bill under the nose of the actual sinner.
There's no way to collect on 100 percent of payable fines. Most people pay promptly; others when the state tacks on a late fee; still others when they register their car. There is an untallied group of people who will try everything to skate past their duties — even transferring title to a family member so they won't be hit with the fines.
But the state could attach the fines to the registered owner of the car, rather than the vehicle itself. Even if the car owner didn't commit the offense, they are legally accountable for the actions of anyone using the vehicle. This way, the unpaid fines would flag them when they try to renew a driver's license, as well as when they register the car.
This undoubtedly will require changes in how data is collected and filed, but it's worth the effort.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Will Espero has said he will try to fix the law next session, so that an unpaid parking ticket will remain the obligation of whoever committed the infraction. New buyers would be issued a clearance so they wouldn't be held accountable.
Lawmakers should take a hard look at this and other possible solutions that would put the blame for parking fines where it rightly belongs.
Correction: Used-car buyers can go to District Court on Alakea Street to determine if there are outstanding parking tickets issued to the previous owner. The location was incorrect in a previous version of this editorial.
