HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013. STATE OF HAWAII
A BILL FOR AN ACT H.B.
No. 36
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that very strong economic and
scientific reasons exist for states to switch to the metric system. Other
than Burma and Liberia, the United States is the only country that has not
switched to the metric system. The cost of not switching to the metric
system is quickly increasing with the trend towards globalization. Failing
to switch could result in the United States losing its competitive edge in
science and technology, as well as continuing to create bilateral trade
impediments with other countries.
The cost of switching to a metric system could be quickly outweighed by
the economic benefits of global interoperability. This is particularly
important as the dominance of United States companies is being challenged
in the competitive atmosphere of globalization. Switching to the metric
system would likely result in the creation of many jobs, and enable the
current and future workforce of the United States to be more prepared to
work in the international marketplace.
The purpose of this Act is to establish the metric system as the
official system of measurement in the State and to require its use in
public documents, public records, and public school instructional
materials beginning in 2018.
SECTION 2. Chapter 5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new
section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§5- State system of measurement. The metric system is
established as the official system of measurement in the State and shall be
required for public documents and public records."
SECTION 3. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new
section to subpart B of part II to be appropriately designated and to read as
follows:
"§302A- System of measurement. The metric system of
measurement shall be used in all public school curriculum and instruction."
SECTION 4. Section 486-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending
subsection (b) to read as follows:
"(b) These rules may include:
(1) Standards of net measure, and reasonable standards of fill for any package;
(2) The technical and reporting procedures to be followed, the report and record
forms to be used by persons subject to the provisions of this chapter, and the
marks of approval and rejection to be used by the administrator, inspectors, and
measurement standards personnel in the discharge of their official duties;
(3) Exemptions from the sealing, labeling, marking, or other requirements of the
respective parts of this chapter;
(4) The voluntary registration of service persons and service agencies for
commercial weighing and measuring devices. These rules may include, but are not
limited to, provisions for registration fees, period of registration,
requirements for test equipment, privileges and responsibilities of a voluntary
registrant, reports required, qualification requirements, examinations to be
administered, certificates of registration, and means for revocation of
registration;
(5) Schedules and fees for licensing measuring devices;
(6) Schedules and fees for calibrating or testing measurement standards, and
registration of the products covered by such measurement standards;
(7) Specifications, tolerances, and other technical requirements with respect
to the packaging, registering, handling, storing, advertising, labeling,
dispensing, and selling of petroleum products;
(8) Specifications, tolerances, and other technical requirements for weighing
and measuring devices;
(9) Practices to assure that amounts of commodities or services sold are
determined in accordance with good commercial practice and are so determined and
represented as to be accurate and informative to all parties at interest;
(10) Requirements for type evaluation;
(11) Definitions, applicability, mandatory use, units, standards, and
tolerances relating to the International System of Units; and
(12) Such other rules as the board deems necessary for the enforcement of
this chapter."
SECTION 5. Section 486-52, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending
subsection (a) to read as follows:
"(a) Any petroleum product which is in a liquid state under conditions
of seven hundred sixty millimeters of Hg at sixty degrees Fahrenheit shall be
measured in terms of units of the SI that are compatible to the U.S.
petroleum gallon; its multiple or decimal submultiples, [or compatible
units of the SI] as established by rule of the board."
SECTION 6. Section 486-102, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as
follows:
"§486-102 Systems of measurement. The United States customary
system of weights and measures and the metric system of measurement are jointly
recognized, [and either one or both] provided that the
metric system of measurement shall be used for all measurement purposes in
the State. The definitions of basic units of measure, the tables of measure and
measure equivalents, the specifications, tolerances and other technical
requirements for measuring devices, as published by the National Institute of
Standards and Technology and adopted, or modified and adopted by the board,
together with the measurement standards provided for herein, are recognized and
shall govern measurement standards, measuring equipment and measuring
transactions in the State."
SECTION 7. The director of taxation shall submit proposed legislation to the
legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular
session of 2014 to convert expressions in chapter 243, on the fuel tax law, and
chapter 244D, on the liquor tax law, from the United States customary system of
weights and measures to the metric system of measurement.
SECTION 8. The revisor of statutes, in cooperation with affected state and
county agencies, shall submit proposed legislation to the legislature not later
than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2014 to
convert expressions in the Hawaii Revised Statutes, exclusive of chapters 23 and
244D, to convert expressions from the United States customary system of weights
and measures to the metric system of measurement.
SECTION 9. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New
statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 10. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2018; provided that
sections 7 and 8 shall take effect upon approval.
The summary description of legislation appearing
on this page is for informational purposes only and
is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
AMENDMENTS TO HB
36 BY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, TWENTY-SEVENTY LEGISLATURE, 2013 THUS ARE NOTED IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015 HB 360. and HB 399 RESPECTIVELY.
IN PARTICULAR HB 399 PROPOSES A STATE LAW REQUIRING ROAD SIGNS TO
INCLUDE METRIC UNITS.
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