THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

968

THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to transportation.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the single fastest growing contributor to an increasing cost of living in Hawaii is now the rising cost of transportation.  Due to increasingly expensive fossil fuels and a lack of cheaper transit options, Hawaii residents already pay among the highest cost to commute in the country.  In January 2022, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that auto-related costs were an astonishing twenty-three per cent higher in December 2021 than a year earlier, accelerating a trend of increasing transit costs contributing to Hawaii's rising cost of living.

     The legislature further finds that numerous public employees commute to work by car and must pay for parking at their workplaces.  However, public employees wishing to split the cost of sharing a single stall while carpooling in different cars on different days are currently prohibited by the department of accounting and general services from doing so.  Many people are also opting to drive electric vehicles, which are significantly cheaper to operate and maintain than gas vehicles, and many major manufacturers have already committed to cease the production and sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2030 and 2035, respectively.  However, infrastructure for charging those vehicles in the workplace does not exist.

     The legislature further finds that numerous public employees who bicycle to work have no secure bicycle storage.  Employees have had bicycles stolen while locked in racks on the upper floors of the Kalanimoku building, State Capitol, and other public facilities.  This limits the ability for employees to save, on average, nearly $13,000 each year by commuting to work by bicycle rather than car.

     The purpose of this Act is to:

     (1)  Help reduce the cost of living and cost of transportation for public employees by:

          (A)  Enabling parking stall sharing between employees;

          (B)  Requiring new parking stalls to be constructed to accommodate electric vehicle charging; and

          (C)  Providing secure bicycle storage lockers at public facilities; and

     (2)  Reducing the cost of transportation for residents of public housing by ensuring future access to electric vehicle charging stations and secure bicycle storage lockers.

     SECTION 2.  (a)  The department of accounting and general services shall make parking stall sharing available to public employees by allowing two or more public employees to share the cost of a parking stall and allowing multiple cars to use that stall as appropriate; provided that the total cost for sharing a parking stall between two or more employees shall not exceed the cost of any one stall for any one employee.

     (b)  The department of accounting and general services shall ensure that every new parking stall constructed and made available to public employees shall be pre-wired to accommodate, at a minimum, level 2 electric vehicle charging stations.  The department of accounting and general services shall develop a plan to retrofit existing parking facilities to enable workplace charging capable of serving all public employee vehicles by 2030.

     (c)  The department of accounting and general services shall provide a reasonable number of secure, enclosed bicycle storage lockers at all facilities where vehicle parking is made available to public employees; provided that the employee cost of secure storage of a bicycle in an enclosed locker shall not exceed twenty per cent of the cost of a vehicle parking stall.  The number of secure bicycle storage lockers shall be regularly increased to meet or exceed expected demand.  A means to charge electric bicycles and micro-mobility transportation devices shall be made available at the location of each storage locker or lockers.

     SECTION 3.  All new public housing parking stalls shall be pre-wired to accommodate, at a minimum, level 2 electric vehicle charging stations.  All new public housing developments shall provide for secure, enclosed bicycle storage lockers at all facilities.  The number of secure bicycle storage lockers shall be regularly increased to meet or exceed expected demand.  A means to charge electric bicycles and micro-mobility transportation devices shall be made available at the location of each storage locker or lockers.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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Report Title:

Parking Stall Sharing; Electric Vehicle Charging Station; Bicycle Storage Locker; Public Employees; Public Housing

 

Description:

Requires the Department of Accounting and General Services to enable parking stall sharing among public employees, accommodate more electric vehicle charging stations, and provide bicycle storage lockers at facilities where parking is made available to public employees.  Requires new public housing developments' parking stalls to accommodate electric vehicle charging stations and bicycle storage lockers.

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.