STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1370

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1415

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred H.B. No. 1415, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENERGY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds and require the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to administer an Electric Vehicle Charging System Loan Program to provide loans to applicants who install eligible electric vehicle charging systems.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Public Utilities Commission, Big Island Electric Vehicle Association, Ulupono Initiative, Climate Protectors Hawai‘i, 350Hawaii.org, Hawaii Electric Vehicle Association, and seven individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committees find that although there are now over twenty-two thousand electric vehicles in the State, this number represents only two percent of the State's passenger vehicles. Hawaii drivers consume over thirty million gallons of gasoline each month. This translates into a massive carbon footprint and highlights the State's dependence on energy imports and the security risks that this presents. The transition to clean transportation must be equitable for the State to achieve its decarbonization goals. This measure will reduce the cost burden of installing home charging equipment and help make the transition to a clean energy future possible for everyone, regardless of income.

Your Committees acknowledge the concerns raised in testimony that this measure, as currently drafted, does not authorize the PUC to design the Electric Vehicle Charging System Loan Program and provides the PUC with little flexibility to administer the program. Therefore, amendments to this measure are necessary to address these concerns.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language authorizing the PUC to design the Electric Vehicle Charging System Loan Program and providing the PUC with greater flexibility to administer the program;

(2) Deleting language that would have prohibited a person from receiving both an electric vehicle charging system loan recipient and electric vehicle charging system rebate;

(3) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Transportation and Culture and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1415, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1415, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair