Question: I recently got my driver’s license renewed, providing all the materials asked for. Am I going to have to provide all that documentation the next time I renew my license, or is this a one-time thing?
Answer: It might change, but under current federal legal presence guidelines, you must resubmit the required documents when you renew your license for the second time, said Dennis Kamimura, administrator of the city Motor Vehicle and Licensing Division.
This is a little confusing, because you don’t have to provide all the documents the next time you renew, but you must do so the time after that.
Licensing jurisdictions have argued with the Department of Homeland Security that it doesn’t make sense to require resubmitting the documents at different times based on age.
“Hopefully, in the upcoming amendment to (the department’s) rules, this resubmission requirement will be eliminated,” Kamimura said.
But for now, everyone renewing licenses under the new requirements will have to resubmit documents at least once more.
Currently, Hawaii licenses are good for four years for those age 24 or younger, eight years for those 25 to 71 and two years for those 72 or older. So specified documents will have to be provided in eight, 16 or four years at the time of renewals, based on age.
If you’re age 25 to 71, for example, when you renew your Hawaii license under the Legal Presence Act requirements that took effect in March, you need to present documents showing proof of name, date of birth, Social Security number and legal presence.
In eight years, when you renew your license, you don’t have to show any documents. In 16 years you again have to present documents for proof of name, date of birth, Social Security number and legal presence.
Meanwhile, people issued a license for shorter terms because of their “temporary lawful status” are required to resubmit documentation whenever their length of stay is extended, Kamimura said.
Q: I would like to start a company and don’t know where to look to see if someone else has taken a name I wish to use. Where do we go to see what names have already been taken?
A: The state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs has the information you’re looking for and more. Go to hbe.ehawaii.gov/documents/search.htm, where you can do a name search for existing businesses.
However, you are advised to call DCCA’s Business Registration Division at 586-2727 to make certain a name is available.
DCCA says, “If you are registering a business entity name, NEVER assume the name is available until you have received a response from the Business Registration Division.”
You also will be directed to business naming rules: hbe.ehawaii.gov/documents/business-naming-rules.html.
Be sure to make use of DCCA’s Business Action Center for information on what it takes to start a business.
The center also makes available various experts, such as a representative from the federal Small Business Administration giving information about loans, from 10 a.m. to noon every Monday; a volunteer attorney from the Hawaii State Bar Association’s Business Law Section from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Thursday; and a business counselor from 10 a.m. to noon the third Tuesday of the month.
The Business Action Center is at 1130 N. Nimitz Highway, second level, Suite A-220.
For more information, call 586-2545 or go to hawaii.gov/dcca/bac.
Mahalo
To the man who found my credit cards in the parking lot of Sam Snead’s Tavern and turned them in to the staff there. The staff did not get a name. It is truly wonderful to still have honest people like this man! — Dorothy
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