STAND. COM. REP. NO.  404

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   H.B. No. 1286

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 1286 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENERGY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to amend the State's objectives and policies relating to energy facility systems.

     Specifically, the measure amends the Hawaii State Planning Act to include the following objectives and policies:

     (1)  Eliminating dependence on imported fuels for electrical generation and ground transportation;

     (2)  Utility models that place the social and financial interests of Hawaii's ratepayers first;

     (3)  Increasing energy efficiency and decreasing energy use in public infrastructure; and

     (4)  Ensuring that fossil fuels such as liquefied natural gas be used only as a transitional, limited-term, and cleaner replacement of petroleum for electricity generation and not impede the development and use of renewable energy sources.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Blue Planet Foundation and three individuals.  One individual testified in opposition to the measure.  The Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and the Hawaii Renewable Energy Alliance provided comments on the measure.

     Your Committee finds that the State must find sustainable, environmentally responsible alternatives to fossil fuel power generation.  Your Committee believes that by promoting the development and use of renewable energy sources, this measure furthers the State's efforts to achieve energy independence.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Reinserting language that was being repealed in section 226-18(a)(2), Hawaii Revised Statutes, referencing an increased ratio of indigenous to imported energy use; and

     (2)  Deleting reference to "cleaner" in regards to fossil fuels such as liquefied natural gas being used as a replacement of petroleum for electricity generation.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1286, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1286, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection,

____________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair