STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2323

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2625

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment, Transportation and International Affairs, and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 2625 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum (Policy Forum) to continue its work with the Energy-Efficiency Transportation Strategies Working Group (Working Group) created in response to Act 254, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007.

     Specifically, this measure appropriates funds for the Policy Forum at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to conduct a study on energy-efficient transportation strategies in conjunction with the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, the Department of Transportation, and members of the energy-efficient transportation strategies working group.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.; Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers; Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; and the Policy Forum.

     Your Committees find that the Policy Forum has requested an appropriation in the amount of $175,000.  The Policy Forum has offered testimony that this appropriation amount would allow them to:

     (1)  Determine data available among government and business sources;

     (2)  Identify gaps in critical data; and

     (3)  Develop and test models leading to the establishment of a reasonable and workable plan for a statewide transportation energy information and monitoring system.

     The Policy Forum has also suggested to your Committees that the measure should be amended to:

     (1)  Allow the Working Group the flexibility to add additional members to accommodate its evolving work; and

     (2)  Enable the Working Group to produce a more fully developed report by extending the reporting period from 2009 to 2010 with an interim progress report in 2009.

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Omitting the list of required representatives of the Working Group in section 2 of this measure, and replacing it with a requirement to include applicable corporate, private, and government representatives;

     (2)  Requiring the submission of an interim report in 2009 and the final report to the Legislature in 2010; and

     (3)  Omitting the appropriation amount, allowing an appropriate amount to be determined at a later date.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environment and Transportation and International Affairs and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2625, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2625, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment and Transportation and International Affairs and Education,

____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair	____________________________ RON MENOR, Chair
	____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair