STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2055

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2651

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2651 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PARKING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish fines beginning January 1, 2015, for owners of places of public accommodation with at least one hundred parking spaces that do not provide at least one parking space exclusively for electric vehicles and equipped with a charging system.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiian Electric Vehicle Network, Big Island Electric Vehicle Association, Maui Electric Vehicle Alliance, Oponnect Hawaii, Electrical Solutions Company, and eleven individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the County of Maui Office of Economic Development and Maui County Department of Parks and Recreation.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and three individuals.

     Your Committee finds that Act 89, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, requires places of public accommodation that have more than one hundred parking stalls open to the public to have one parking space exclusively for an electric vehicle and be equipped with an electric vehicle charger.  However, many businesses have failed to comply with Act 89.  Enforcement, including penalties and procedures, need to be in place to ensure that electric vehicle owners have a parking space available that can also charge their vehicles.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Applying the requirements of this measure to owners of parking facilities instead of owners of places of public accommodation;

     (2)  Amending the penalty amounts and deleting language that would have created subsequent violations every thirty days;

     (3)  Inserting language to allow an owner of a parking facility to comply within 120 days after a violation to avoid being cited for another violation; and

     (4)  Deleting the definition of "place of public accommodation" and inserting language that defines "parking facility".

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2651, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2651, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Environment,

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair