STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2526

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2435

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Government Operations and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2435 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a goal of the State to retrofit state facilities to be electric vehicle charger-ready;

(2) Require the design of all new state building construction where parking is to be included to provide that at least twenty-five percent of parking stalls be electric vehicle charger-ready;

(3) Require the Hawaii State Energy Office to conduct a survey and identify certain high-priority state facilities that include parking to be retrofitted to include electric vehicle charging infrastructure and submit a report to the Legislature; and

(4) Appropriate funds to the Hawaii State Energy Office to assess the costs of, and install, retrofits and electric vehicle charging systems at high-priority state facilities.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services, Hawaii Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, Hawaii EV Association, 350Hawaii.org, Climate Protectors Hawaiʻi, Alliance for Automative Innovation, and four individuals.

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

Your Committees find that the transition to electric vehicles is a key action identified by multiple state climate plans, including the Climate Action Pathways, Energy Security and Waste Reduction Plan, and Hawaiʻi Pathways to Decarbonization, but a significant barrier to the transition is the lack of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. While the retrofitting of existing state parking lots to equip them with charging infrastructure is one way to help address the issue, your Committees affirm that incorporating charging infrastructure in new state building construction is a significantly less expensive method. Either way, equipping state facilities with charging infrastructure will benefit all electric utility customers in the State due to the coincidence of daytime charging at the workplace with peak renewable electricity generation. This measure will bring the State closer to achieving its net zero goals while lowering energy costs for the public.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Expanding its scope to all state agencies by requiring the Hawaii State Energy Office to:

(A) Conduct the survey of existing state facilities statewide that include parking in consultation with not only the Department of Accounting and General Services and Department of Transportation, but with all other state agencies that own or manage a state facility that includes parking; and

(B) Prioritize retrofitting these state facilities in accordance with readily available information;

(2) Beginning July 1, 2027, requiring the design of all new state building construction that includes parking to ensure that at least ten percent, rather than twenty‑five percent, of parking stalls are electric vehicle charger-ready;

(3) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2525, to encourage further discussion;

(4) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2435, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2435, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs,

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair

________________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair