CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 104

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                 , 2009

 

RE:    S.B. No. 266

       S.D. 2

       H.D. 2

       C.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam and Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 266, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GLOBAL WARMING,"

 

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

 

     The purpose of this measure is to establish a climate change task force within the Office of Planning to begin an investigation of the current and potential impacts of global warming and climate change on the people, natural resources, and economy of the State.

 

     Your Committee on Conference finds that, although the Legislature has taken actions to address the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through the passage of Act 234, Session Laws of Hawaii 2007, strategies to focus on adaptation still need to be investigated and implemented.  This measure is intended to provide a method of developing such strategies.

 

     Your Committee on Conference finds, however, that the task force could benefit from the input of members appointed by the Department of Transportation, the Board of Land and Natural Resources, the Office of Civil Defense, the counties, the Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy, and the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research.  Additionally, your Committee on Conference finds that the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism is adequately represented by the participation of the Office of Planning on the task force and that the inclusion of a representative from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism is redundant.

 

     Your Committee on Conference urges the task force to also solicit input from the military and the Building Industry Association.

 

     Your Committee on Conference also finds that the requirement that the task force conduct an assessment of the conditions and impacts from global warming and climate change on various segments of the State may be too broad an undertaking for the task force.  Your Committee on Conference understands that "scoping" is the first step in initiating a climate change study.  This constitutes a broad investigation of the social, economic, cultural and environmental sectors that will be impacted by climate change, in a manner that will be location-specific.  By contrast, in the realm of hazard mitigation, of which the effects of climate change lie, risk and vulnerability assessments use information gathered during the scoping to determine the risk to exposed populations and property and the extent of injury and damage that may result from a hazard event.  An assessment, then, is much more time- and cost-intensive than the scoping step.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee on Conference has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adding to the task force, members representing the Department of Transportation, the Board of Land and Natural Resources, the Office of Civil Defense, the counties, the Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy, and the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research;

 

     (2)  To avoid redundancy, deleting from the task force a representative from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, due to the inclusion of a representative of the Office of Planning on the task force;

 

     (3)  Narrowing the breadth of the investigation to be conducted by the task force to "scoping", rather than "assessing" the conditions and impacts described in the measure;

 

     (4)  Changing the extent of support to be provided by the Office of Planning;

 

     (5)  Revising the duties of the task force relating to recommendations to be made to the Legislature by including greater detail for items such as public utilities and infrastructure, and deleting the emphasis on maintaining native species, while increasing the emphasis on preserving different types of ecosystems;

 

     (6)  Changing the appropriation amount from an unspecified amount to $50,000 for each of the fiscal years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011;

 

     (7)  Changing the effective date of the measure from "July 1, 2020" to "July 1, 2009"; and

 

     (8)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 266, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 266, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, C.D. 1.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

 

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

 

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

 

____________________________

HERMINA MORITA, Co-Chair

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair

____________________________

DENNY COFFMAN, Co-Chair

 

____________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Co-Chair

 

 

____________________________

SHAN S. TSUTSUI, Co-Chair