STAND. COM. REP. NO 195

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1051

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment, Transportation, and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 1051 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FUEL CELL ELECTRIC VEHICLES,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Amend the definition of "electric vehicle" to include fuel cell electric vehicles for purposes of parking exemptions, HOV lane use, registration, and designated parking spaces in places of public accommodation;

 

     (2)  Grant procurement priority for fuel cell electric vehicles for state and county purchases; and

 

     (3)  Amend the definition of "electric vehicle charging system" in section 291-71, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to exclude a facility or system for refueling the hydrogen storage tank of a fuel cell electric vehicle.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum, Blue Planet Foundation, Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association, and Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism.

 

     Your Committees find that fuel cell vehicles convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity to charge the onboard battery and power the vehicle.  Fuel cell vehicles can use fuel generated from local clean energy and, unlike fossil fuel vehicles, create no dangerous emissions.  Implementation of this measure will reduce gasoline consumption and further the State's clean energy goals.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Eliminating the "fuel cell electric vehicle" definition"; incorporating language that includes fuel cell electric vehicles under the definition of "electric vehicle" for purposes of parking exemptions, HOV lane use, registration, and designated parking spaces in places of public accommodation; and making conforming amendments; and

 

     (2)  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 Energy and Environment, Transportation, and Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1051, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1051, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment, Transportation, and Government Operations,

 

____________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair

 

 

____________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair