Getting and keeping a taxicab license

(a) The director of finance shall issue taxicab licenses and collect the required fees in accordance with the provisions of this article and any other applicable provisions of the law. Each license issued shall allow the applicant to operate one taxicab. The issued licenses shall not be transferable. (b) No taxicab license shall be issued to any applicant unless the applicant has been granted a certificate of public convenience and necessity by the commission and submit evidence of compliance with the requirements of this article regarding: (1) Posting of taxicab driver’s permit; (2) Posting of fare schedule; (3) Physical condition of taxicab; (4) Taxicab roof sign; (5) Taxicab control number; (6) Taximeter inspection; (7) Trade name and markings; and (8) Financial responsibility. (c) Fees. (1) All licenses issued under this section shall expire on June 30 of the current licensing year. An application for the renewal of such license for the following year may be made on or after the first day of June. (2) The annual fee for a taxicab license shall be $120; provided that, when a license fee has already been paid on a vehicle and that vehicle is, within the year, replaced by another vehicle, the unexpired portion of the license fee paid on the vehicle so replaced shall be credited to the license fee payable for the substitute vehicle. For the purposes hereof the unexpired portion of the license fee paid on the vehicle which has been replaced shall be that portion of the annual fee which is equal to one-twelfth of said fee multiplied by the number of full months remaining during the current licensing year. Whenever a vehicle licensed as a taxicab is replaced by another vehicle under the provisions of this article, the sum of $10 in addition to the license fee shall be assessed against the owner of the vehicle so replaced to defray the administrative costs incurred by the County. When the initial application for such license is made in any month other than July, the license fee shall be reduced by one-twelfth of the annual fee for each full month of the license year which shall have elapsed at time of the application. (3) Upon payment of fees required by this section, the director of finance shall issue a decal to be placed on the left side of the rear bumper as evidence that current fees have been paid. When a decal is lost, stolen or mutilated, a replacement shall be issued upon collection of a fee of $1. (d) Surrender and cancellation. (1) The holder of a taxicab license shall immediately surrender said license and decal to the director of finance when the taxicab license thereunder has not been used to carry passengers for hire for a consecutive period of thirty days. (2) The above period shall be extended to a total of one hundred eighty days if the nonuse is caused by the vacation, illness or injury of the regular taxicab driver or due to the delay of repair due to parts or receipt of a replacement taxicab. (3) Upon surrender, the taxicab license shall be cancelled. (e) License revocation or suspension. (1) Any taxicab license issued pursuant to this article may be suspended or revoked by the commission after a hearing held in compliance with section 18-11 of this chapter and chapter 91, Hawai‘i Revised Statutes, whenever the holder of the taxicab license fails to comply with the requirements of any section of this article. (2) Any taxicab license issued pursuant to this article may be suspended for up to thirty days by the director for violations of this article. Within the thirty-day suspension period, the commission shall conduct a hearing to either uphold or rescind the actions of the director. (f) Use of fees. Annual license fees collected pursuant to this section shall be used exclusively for enforcement of County taxi industry regulations. (1990, ord 90-19, sec 15; am 1997, ord 97-127, sec 2.)18-37.1