STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1271-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: S.B. No. 2753

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water & Land and Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2753 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BUILDING CODES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to clarify that no state or county building code shall prohibit the use of a substitute refrigerant allowed by the Environmental Protection Agency if the applicable equipment is listed and installed in compliance with the latest safety standards.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; Building Decarbonization Task Force of the Hawaiʻi Environmental Change Agents; Climate Protectors Hawaiʻi; and Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute.

Your Committees find that certain refrigerants, including hydrofluorocarbons, are potent greenhouse gases that can have an immense impact on global warming. Your Committees further find that the United States Congress passed the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020 to mandate an eighty-five percent phasedown in hydrofluorocarbon refrigerants. To comply with the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020, updates to the Hawaii State Building Codes and county building codes are needed. This measure will require the necessary building code updates to provide the certainty that the manufacturing industry needs to comply with the federal regulations and ensure that the transition to alternate refrigerants is safe and efficient.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the State Building Code Council, when it adopts, amends, or updates the Hawaii State Building Codes, to establish codes and standards that are consistent with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with hydrofluorocarbons;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water & Land and Energy & Environmental Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2753, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2753, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water & Land and Energy & Environmental Protection,

____________________________ NICOLE E. LOWEN, Chair

____________________________ LINDA ICHIYAMA, Chair