STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2772

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2072

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism, to which was referred S.B. No. 2072 entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the State Energy Office, in cooperation with the Governor, to establish a strategic plan identifying clear benchmarks to establish one hundred percent renewable energy by 2045.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Energy Office; Climate Protectors Coalition; We Are One, Inc; 350Hawaii; Ulupono Initiative; Imua Alliance; and thirteen individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Life of the Land, Our Revolution Hawaii, and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.; and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii's dependence on imported fuel hinders the State's economy.  To decrease Hawaii's dependence on imported fuels, the Legislature passed Act 97, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015, which requires all electric utility companies to establish a renewable portfolio standard of one hundred percent of its net electricity sales by December 31, 2045.  However, your Committee further finds that no strategic plan currently exists for the attainment of this goal.  This measure will require the State Energy Office, in collaboration with the Governor, to establish a strategic plan to identify clear benchmarks to reach the goal established in Act 97, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Supplementing the information in the purpose section;

 

     (2)  Requiring the Hawaii State Energy Office, instead of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, to submit the strategic plan to the Legislature;

 

     (3)  Changing the due date of the strategic plan from twenty days prior to the Regular Session of 2021 to twenty days prior to the Regular Session of 2022;

 

     (4)  Inserting an appropriation of $450,000 to develop a strategic plan; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2072, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2072, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy, Economic Development, and Tourism,

 

 

 

________________________________

GLENN WAKAI, Chair