STAND. COM. REP. NO. 584-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: H.B. No. 2614

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 2614, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RENEWABLE ENERGY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require government entities in the State to issue building permits to implement, by January 1, 2025, SolarAPP+ or a functionally equivalent online automated permitting platform that processes and issues permits to licensed contractors for solar distributed energy resource systems in real time.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority; Hawaii State Energy Office; Office of the Mayor of the County of Maui; Sol-Ark; Solar Help Hawaii; Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi; Ulupono Initiative; Citizens' Climate Lobby Hawaii; Climate Protectors Hawaiʻi; Green Power Projects LLC; Hawaii Solar Energy Association; Blue Planet Foundation; Greenpeace Hawaii; Canadian Solar; Sunrun; 350Hawaii.org; Hawaii Food Industry Association; Sunnova Energy International, Inc.; Recycle Hawaii; Clean the Pacific; Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Planning and Permitting of the City and County of Honolulu and Board of Professional Engineers, Architects, Surveyors, and Landscape Architects.

Your Committee finds that to transition the State away from imported fossil fuels and toward locally available renewable energy sources electric utilities in the State are required to achieve a one hundred percent renewable portfolio standard by December 31, 2045. To encourage the timely build-out of a diverse, resilient, and reliable portfolio of low-cost renewable energy generation and storage assets, Hawaii must lower the administrative barriers that constrain deployment of residential and commercial-scale distributed energy resources. This measure lowers administrative barriers to the deployment of energy generation and storage technology systems by leveraging existing software and supports a streamlined process for renewable energy projects.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2614, H.D. 1, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair