STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2641

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2894

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Labor and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 2894 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Transportation to establish a State Employee Commuter Benefits Program that provides free or subsidized public transit to state employees.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation, Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, Hawaiʻi State Energy Office, one member of the Kauaʻi County Council, Oahu Metropolitan Planning Organization, Ulupono Initiative, Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, and four individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

Your Committees find that emissions from private vehicles account for twenty-eight percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the country. Your Committees further find that the State has a responsibility to lead in the decarbonization transition and should encourage the utilization of public transportation that encourages fuel efficiency per passenger mile and contributes to an overall decrease in the necessary amount of energy for transportation. This measure will help commuters save money on fuel, insurance, parking, and vehicle maintenance costs, while also reducing the traffic and air pollution by encouraging commuters to take public transit. However, rather than establishing a new program, your Committees note that further developing an existing employee commuter benefits program would streamline processes and make it easier for employees to apply for the benefits provided under the existing program.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting its contents and inserting language requiring the Department of Human Resources Development to include bikeshare and other micro-mobility devices within the Pre-tax Transportation Benefit Pilot Program's commuter benefits;

(2) Adding the definition of "micro-mobility device"; and

(3) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Labor and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2894, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2894, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Labor and Technology,

________________________________ HENRY J.C. AQUINO, Chair

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair