Report Title:

Public Buses; Biodiesel

Description:

Requires public buses to use biodiesel, provided biodiesel is available at a competitive cost.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2731

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to the environment.

 

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

SECTION 1. Section 46-16.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) The legislature finds and declares the following:

(1) The orderly regulation of vehicular traffic on the streets and highways of Hawaii is essential to the welfare of the State and its people;

(2) Privately-operated public passenger vehicle service provides vital transportation links within the State. Public passenger vehicle service operated in the counties enables the State to provide the benefits of privately-operated, demand-responsive transportation services to its people and to persons who travel to the State for business or tourist purposes;

(3) The economic viability and stability of privately-operated public passenger vehicle service is consequently a matter of statewide importance;

(4) The policy of the State is to promote safe and reliable privately-operated public passenger vehicle service to provide the benefits of that service. In furtherance of this policy, the legislature recognizes and affirms that the regulation of privately-operated public passenger vehicle service is an essential governmental function;

(5) The policy of the State is to require that counties regulate privately-operated public passenger vehicle service and not subject a county or its officers to liability under the federal antitrust laws;

(6) The policy of the State is to require that all public buses use biodiesel, provided that biodiesel is available at a competitive cost. For the purposes of this section, "biodiesel" means a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend;

[(6)] (7) The policy of the State is to further promote privately-operated public passenger vehicle service, including but not limited to, the picking up and discharge of passengers from various unrelated locations by taxicabs; and

[(7)] (8) The policy of the State is to further promote privately-operated public passenger vehicle service by requiring jitney services not regulated by the counties to be under the jurisdiction of the public utilities commission. For the purposes of this paragraph, "jitney services" means public transportation services utilizing motor vehicles that have seating accommodations for six to twenty-five passengers, operate along specific routes during defined service hours, and levy a flat fare schedule."

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

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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