STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1096

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1286

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment and Water and Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 1286, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENERGY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the following as added or amended Hawaii State Plan objectives and policies relating to state energy facility systems:

     (1)  Elimination of the State's dependence on imported fuels for electrical generation and ground transportation to increase energy security and self-sufficiency;

     (2)  Diversification of energy generation;

     (3)  Consideration of utility models that place the social and financial interests of the State's ratepayers first;

     (4)  Increased energy efficiency and decreased energy use in public infrastructure; and

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

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Solar Energy Association; Hawaii Renewable Energy Alliance; Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.; and three individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from two individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and one individual.

     Your Committees find that a stronger local economy depends on a transition away from imported fuels and toward renewable local resources that provide a source of affordable energy.  Updating the energy objectives and policies relating to state energy facility systems will benefit Hawaii's economy by ensuring that Hawaii moves beyond its dependence on imported fuels and continues to grow a local renewable energy industry, furthering Hawaii's goals of energy security, self-sufficiency, and sustainability.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Amending the increased energy security and self-sufficiency objective to include the reduction of, in addition to the elimination of, the State's dependence on imported fuels for electrical generation and ground transportation and to delete the reference to an increase in the ratio of indigenous to imported energy use;

     (2)  Clarifying that consideration be given to utility models that make the social and financial interests of the State's utility customers a priority; and

     (3)  Changing the effective date to upon approval.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environment and Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1286, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1286, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment and Water and Land,

________________________________ LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair