[§269G-3] Infrastructure resilience financing order. (a) A financing order shall remain in effect until the bonds issued under the financing order and all financing costs related to the bonds have been paid in full or defeased by their terms. The aggregate of the financing orders shall be for no greater than $500,000,000 of the infrastructure resilience costs for a corporate family of the electric utility.
A financing order shall remain in effect and unabated notwithstanding the bankruptcy, reorganization, or insolvency of the electric utility or the commencement of any judicial or nonjudicial proceeding on the financing order.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, with respect to infrastructure resilience property that has been made the basis for the issuance of bonds and with respect to any associated fixed recovery tax amounts, the financing order, the infrastructure resilience charges, and any associated fixed recovery tax amounts shall be irrevocable. The State and its agencies, including the commission, pledge and agree with bondholders, the owners and assignees of the infrastructure resilience property, and other financing parties that the State and its agencies shall not take any action listed in this subsection. This subsection shall not preclude an action if the action would not adversely affect the interests of the electric utility, of assignees of the infrastructure resilience property, and of bondholders. The prohibited actions shall be the following:
(1) Alter the provisions of this chapter, which authorize the commission to create an irrevocable contract right or choose in action by the issuance of a financing order, to create infrastructure resilience property and make the infrastructure resilience charges imposed by a financing order irrevocable, binding, nonbypassable charges for all existing and future consumers;
(2) Take or permit any action that impairs or would impair the value of infrastructure resilience property or the security for the bonds or revise the infrastructure resilience costs for which recovery is authorized;
(3) In any way impair the rights and remedies of the bondholders, assignees, and other financing parties; and
(4) Except for changes made pursuant to the true-up adjustment authorized under subsection (d), reduce, alter, or impair infrastructure resilience charges that are to be imposed, billed, charged, collected, and remitted for the benefit of the bondholders, any assignee, and any other financing parties until any and all principal, interest, premium, financing costs, and other fees, expenses, or charges incurred, and any contracts to be performed, in connection with the related bonds have been paid and performed in full.
The financing entity may include this pledge in the bonds.
(c) Under a financing order, the electric utility shall retain sole discretion to select the financing entity and to cause bonds to be issued, including the right to defer or postpone the issuance, assignment, sale, or transfer of infrastructure resilience property.
(d) The commission may create, pursuant to an application from an electric utility, a nonbypassable charge referred to as an infrastructure resilience charge, which shall be applied to recover principal, interest, and other financing costs relating to the bonds. The infrastructure resilience charge shall be a dedicated, discrete tariff rider.
The commission, in any financing order, shall establish a procedure for periodic true-up adjustments to infrastructure resilience charges, which shall be made at least annually and may be made more frequently. Within thirty days after receiving an electric utility's filing of a true-up adjustment, the commission's review of the filing shall be limited to mathematical or clerical errors as determined in accordance with any true-up adjustment formulas set forth in the applicable financing order.
The commission shall either approve the filing or inform the electric utility of any mathematical or clerical errors in its calculation. If the commission informs the electric utility of mathematical or clerical errors in its calculation, the electric utility shall correct its error and refile its true-up adjustment. The timeframes previously described in this subsection shall apply to a refiled true-up adjustment.
(e) The commission may include in the financing order a requirement that, if the electric utility fails to transfer the wildfire recovery charges it has collected, the commission will order that those funds shall be withheld and paid directly to the applicable financing entity. Any order shall remain in full force and effect notwithstanding any bankruptcy, reorganization, or other insolvency proceedings with respect to the electric utility.
(f) Neither financing orders nor bonds issued under this chapter shall constitute a general obligation of the State or any of its political subdivisions, nor shall they constitute a pledge of the full faith and credit of the State or any of its political subdivisions, but shall be payable solely from the infrastructure resilience property provided under this chapter.
All bonds shall contain on the face thereof a statement to the following effect: "Neither the full faith and credit nor the taxing power of the State of Hawaii is pledged to the payment of the principal of, or interest and premium on, this bond."
The issuance of bonds under this chapter shall not directly, indirectly, or contingently obligate the State or any of its political subdivisions to levy or pledge any form of taxation or make any appropriation for their payment.
(g) Infrastructure resilience charges are infrastructure resilience property when, and to the extent that, a financing order authorizing the infrastructure resilience charges has become effective in accordance with this chapter, and the infrastructure resilience property shall thereafter continuously exist as property for all purposes, and all of the rights and privileges relating to that property shall continuously exist for the period and to the extent provided in the financing order, but in any event until the bonds, including all principal; premiums, if any; interest with respect to the bonds; and all other financing costs are paid in full. A financing order may provide that the creation of infrastructure resilience property shall be simultaneous with the sale of the infrastructure resilience property to an assignee as provided in the application of the pledge of the infrastructure resilience property to secure the bonds.
(h) Any successor to a financing entity shall be bound by the requirements of this chapter and shall perform and satisfy all obligations of and have the same rights under a financing order as, and to the same extent as, the financing entity.
(i) No electric utility approved for a financing order shall increase compensation for its executive officers unless the utility's wildfire risk mitigation plan compliance reports have been approved by the commission for five consecutive years; provided that the commission may consider an alternative symmetric performance incentive mechanism, if the commission deems appropriate. For the purposes of this subsection, "wildfire risk mitigation plan" has the same meaning as in section 269G-1.
(j) As used in this section, "corporate family" means a group of corporations consisting of a parent corporation and all subsidiaries in which the parent corporation owns directly or indirectly a controlling interest.
(k) The commission, in its discretion, may engage the services of a financial adviser for the purposes of assisting the commission in its consideration of an application for a financing order and a subsequent issuance of bonds pursuant to a financing order. [L 2025, c 258, pt of §3]