STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2124

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2241

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2241 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ZERO-EMISSIONS VEHICLES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Hawaii State Energy Office to analyze zero-emissions vehicle infrastructure in the State.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii State Energy Office.

Your Committee finds that transitioning to zero-emission vehicles is essential to the State's climate change mitigation strategies. However, federal officials have recently targeted numerous programs that stimulate the adoption electric vehicles, highlighting the need to enact state policies to safeguard these programs at the local level. To assess how these policies may be best implemented, your Committee believes that the Hawaii State Energy Office, tasked with assisting in the decarbonization of the State's economy, is best situated to analyze areas where the State's zero-emission vehicle infrastructure may be improved. This measure will provide funds to help gather critical information to allow the State to adapt to challenges at the federal level and ensure that the State meets its goals of climate change mitigation and increased energy security and self-sufficiency.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a blank appropriation amount;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

Your Committee notes that this measure, as amended, contains an unspecified appropriation amount. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it consider inserting an appropriation amount of $5,000,000.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2241, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2241, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs,

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GLENN WAKAI, Chair