Report Title:

Public Lands

Description:

Allows the BLNR to lease public lands to renewable energy producers through direct negotiation. (SB2802 HD2)

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

2802

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

S.D. 2

STATE OF HAWAII

H.D. 2


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO LEASING OF PUBLIC LANDS TO RENEWABLE ENERGY PRODUCERS.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Section 171-95, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§171-95 Disposition to governments, governmental agencies, [and] public utilities[.], and renewable energy producers. (a) Notwithstanding any limitations to the contrary, the board of land and natural resources may, without public auction:

(1) Sell public lands at such price and on such other terms and conditions as the board may deem proper to governments, including the United States, city and county, counties, other governmental agencies authorized to hold lands in fee simple and public utilities;

(2) Lease to the governments, agencies, [and] public utilities, and renewable energy producers public lands for terms up to, but not in excess of, sixty-five years at such rental and on such other terms and conditions as the board may determine;

(3) Grant licenses and easements to the governments, agencies, [and] public utilities, and renewable energy producers on such terms and conditions as the board may determine for road, pipeline, utility, communication cable, and other rights-of-way;

(4) Exchange public lands with the governments and agencies;

(5) Execute quitclaim deeds to the governments and agencies, with or without consideration, releasing any claim to the property involved made upon disputed legal or equitable grounds, whenever the board in its discretion deems it beneficial to the State; and

(6) Waive or modify building and other requirements and conditions contained in deeds, patents, sales agreements, or leases held by the governments and agencies whenever such waiver or modification is beneficial to the State.

(b) In any disposition to public utilities under this section:

(1) The sale price or lease rental shall be no less than the value determined in accordance with section 171-17(b); provided[, however,] that such sale price or lease rental may be on a nominal basis, if the board finds that such easement is required in connection with a government project[.];

(2) The board shall provide that in case the land ceases to be used at any future time for the use for which the disposition was made, the board shall have the right to repurchase the land at the original sale price or fair market value, whichever is lower, and to purchase improvements thereon at the depreciated value or fair market value, whichever is lower[.];

(3) Disposition shall not be made to any public utility if the utility has suitable lands of its own[.]; and

(4) The disposition to public utilities shall be subject to disapproval by the legislature by two-thirds vote of either the senate or the house of representatives or by majority vote of both, in any regular or special session next following the date of the disposition.

[(5) For the purposes of this section, the definition of "public utility" as established in section 269-1 is hereby incorporated herein by reference.]

(c) For purposes of this section:

"Public utility" includes every person who may own, control, operate, or manage as owner, lessee, trustee, receiver, or otherwise, whether under a franchise, charter, license, articles of association, or otherwise, any plant or equipment, or any part thereof, directly or indirectly for public use, for the transportation of passengers or freight, or the conveyance or transmission of telecommunications messages, or the furnishing of facilities for the transmission of intelligence by electricity by land or water or air within the State, or between points within the State, or for the production, conveyance, transmission, delivery, or furnishing of light, power, heat, cold, water, gas, or oil, or for the storage or warehousing of goods, or the disposal of sewage; provided that the term:

(1) Shall include any person insofar as that person owns or operates a private sewer company or sewer facility;

(2) Shall include telecommunications carrier or telecommunications common carrier;

(3) Shall not include any person insofar as that person owns or operates an aerial transportation enterprise;

(4) Shall not include persons owning or operating taxicabs, as defined in this section;

(5) Shall not include common carriers transporting only freight on the public highways, unless operating within localities or along routes or between points that the public utilities commission finds to be inadequately serviced without regulation under this chapter;

(6) Shall not include persons engaged in the business of warehousing or storage unless the commission finds that regulation thereof is necessary in the public interest;

(7) Shall not include:

(A) The business of any carrier by water to the extent that the carrier enters into private contracts for towage, salvage, hauling, or carriage between points within the State and the carriage is not pursuant to either an established schedule or an undertaking to perform carriage services on behalf of the public generally; and

(B) The business of any carrier by water, substantially engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, transporting passengers on luxury cruises between points within the State or on luxury round-trip cruises returning to the point of departure;

(8) Shall not include any person who:

(A) Controls, operates, or manages plants or facilities for the production, transmission, or furnishing of power primarily or entirely from nonfossil fuel sources; and

(B) Provides, sells, or transmits all of that power, except such power as is used in its own internal operations, directly to a public utility for transmission to the public;

(9) Shall not include a telecommunications provider only to the extent determined by the commission pursuant to section 269-16.9;

(10) Shall not include any person who controls, operates, or manages plants or facilities developed pursuant to chapter 167 for conveying, distributing, and transmitting water for irrigation and such other purposes that shall be held for public use and purpose; and

(11) Shall not include any person who owns, controls, operates, or manages plants or facilities for the reclamation of wastewater; provided that:

(A) The services of the facility shall be provided pursuant to a service contract between the person and a state or county agency and at least ten per cent of the wastewater processed is used directly by the State or county which has entered into the service contract;

(B) The primary function of the facility shall be the processing of secondary treated wastewater that has been produced by a municipal wastewater treatment facility that is owned by a state or county agency;

(C) The facility shall not make sales of water to residential customers;

(D) The facility may distribute and sell recycled or reclaimed water to entities not covered by a state or county service contract; provided that, in the absence of regulatory oversight and direct competition, the distribution and sale of recycled or reclaimed water shall be voluntary and its pricing fair and reasonable. For purposes of this subparagraph, "recycled water" and "reclaimed water" mean treated wastewater that by design is intended or used for a beneficial purpose; and

(E) The facility shall not be engaged, either directly or indirectly, in the processing of food wastes.

"Renewable energy producer" means any producer of electrical energy produced by wind, solar energy, hydropower, landfill gas, waste-to-energy, ocean thermal energy conversion, wave energy, biomass including municipal solid waste, biofuels or fuels derived from organic sources, hydrogen fuels derived primarily from renewable energy, or fuel cells where the fuel is derived primarily from renewable sources that sell all of the net power produced from the demised premises to an electric utility company regulated under chapter 269. Up to twenty-five per cent of the power produced by a renewable energy producer and sold to the utility may be derived from fossil fuels."

SECTION 2. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2020.