STAND. COM. REP. NO. 597-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: H.B. No. 1629

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 Energy & Environmental Protection and Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 1629 entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require contested cases or environmental impact statement cases involving renewable energy, except cases involving incineration, to be:

(1) Prioritized and decided expeditiously; and

(2) Appealed from an agency's decision directly to the Hawaii Supreme Court for final decision.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative and Climate Protectors Hawaii. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Clean Power Alliance. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Judiciary; Department of the Attorney General; and Public Utilities Commission.

Your Committees find that in order to achieve the State's goal of one hundred percent renewable energy by the year 2045, there is a need to support the efficient permitting of renewable energy projects. This measure facilitates a swift transition to clean energy and supports innovative projects that seek to reduce the State's climate impact by establishing an expedited process to prevent lengthy legal challenges that could delay or possibly stop viable renewable energy projects.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that contested cases, environmental assessment cases, or environmental impact statement cases involving large-scale energy projects over twenty megawatts in size would be required to be appealed directly to the Hawaii Supreme Court for final decision and prioritized and decided expeditiously;

(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 Energy & Environmental Protection and Water & Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1629, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1629, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

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

____________________________ LINDA ICHIYAMA, Chair

____________________________ NICOLE E. LOWEN, Chair