STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2873

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2753

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2753 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent 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 Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Building Decarbonization Task Force of the Hawaiʻi Environmental Change Agents, 350Hawaii.org, Climate Protectors Hawaiʻi, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are chemicals commonly used in air conditioning, refrigeration, insulating foam, and as propellants. Although HFCs were designed to replace ozone depleting substances that were harming the planet's protective ozone layer, HFCs are now acting as greenhouse gasses that are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide in contributing to climate change. This measure will require necessary building code updates to provide the certainty that the manufacturing industry needs to comply with federal regulations and to ensure that the transition to alternate refrigerants is safe and efficient.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2753 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair