STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2576

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2357

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2357, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RENEWABLE ENERGY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to require a gas utility to submit an annual report to the Public Utilities Commission that contains information on the manufacture and distribution of natural gas in the State. 

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Public Utilities Commission, The Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, and the Blue Planet Foundation.  Testimony with comments on this measure was received from The Gas Company.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure will assist the Public Utilities Commission in determining whether the State's gas utility has the capacity to meet renewable portfolio standards to ultimately achieve the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative's goal of seventy per cent clean, renewable energy by 2020.  Your Committee further finds that this measure will incentivize the use of non-petroleum sources to create natural gas by increasing transparency in the energy-production process.  Finally, your Committee notes that this measure, as amended, is the result of collaboration among all interested parties and contains language that provides for more appropriate reporting for the purpose of collecting complete and accurate information. 

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adding a purpose section to make clear the goal of this measure, which is to establish an accurate and thorough reporting system for renewable energy efforts by a gas utility provider;

 

     (2)  Clarifying the reporting requirements for a gas utility company;

 

     (3)  Specifying that certain proprietary information is not subject to reporting requirements;

 

     (4)  Deleting the definition of "renewable energy" and adding new definitions of "feedstock", "total feedstock", and "non-petroleum feedstock"; and

 

     (5)  Delaying the implementation of the reporting requirement to December 2011 in order to allow the parties sufficient time to implement the necessary procedures.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2357, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2357, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

 

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair