Car buyers who inherit tickets from a previous owner would no longer be responsible for them under legislation that a state senator plans to introduce at the next Legislature.

State Sen. Will Espero, vice-chairman of the Transportation and Government Operations Committee, said yesterday he will seek to amend the 12-year-old law that requires the state to block a registration renewal for a vehicle whose owners failed to pay.

The state recently began vigorously enforcing the law, prompting complaints from some car buyers.

"It doesn't make sense that an individual must pay for the fines of another individual who has avoided payment in order to register a car," said Espero, D-20th ('Ewa Beach, Waipahu).

The proposed legislation will make it clear that an unpaid parking ticket will remain the obligation of the individual who owned the vehicle when the infraction occurred and allow county agencies to issue a temporary clearance if a vehicle's tickets were issued to the vehicle's previous owner.

In the meantime, the Judiciary recommends that would-be buyers go to its Traffic Violations Bureau at 1111 Alakea St. and find out whether the car they intend to buy has been ticketed within the previous 45 days.

If so, those tickets probably won't show up as registration stoppers when the new buyer tries to transfer the title and registration this time around but might show up when registering it down the line.