Report Title:

Vehicular Emissions; DOH Regulations

Description:

Directs the DOH to develop greenhouse gas emission standards and adopt rules that achieve the maximum feasible reduction of greenhouse gases emitted by passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks and any other vehicles determined by the department to be vehicles whose primary use is noncommercial personal transportation in the State.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1681

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to vehicular emissions.

 

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

SECTION 1. Chapter 342B, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§342B- Vehicular emissions; greenhouse gases. (a) The department shall establish greenhouse gas emission standards that achieve the maximum feasible reduction of greenhouse gases emitted by passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks and any other vehicles determined by the department to be vehicles whose primary use is noncommercial personal transportation in the State.

(b) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

"Department" means the department of health.

"Greenhouse gases" include all of the following gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.

"Maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions" means the greenhouse gas emission reductions that the department determines meet both of the following criteria:

(1) Capable of being successfully accomplished within the time provided by this Act, taking into account environmental, economic, social, and technological factors; and

(2) Economical to an owner or operator of a vehicle, taking into account the full life-cycle costs of a vehicle.

"Motor vehicle" means a passenger vehicle, light-duty truck, or any other vehicle determined by the department to be a vehicle whose primary use is noncommercial personal transportation."

SECTION 2. Rules. No later than January 1, 2005, the department of health shall develop and adopt rules that achieve the maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. The rules shall not take effect prior to January 1, 2006, to allow the legislature time to review the rules and determine whether further legislation should be enacted prior to the effective date of the rules, and shall apply only to a motor vehicle manufactured in the 2009 model year, or any model year thereafter. Within ten days of adopting the rules, the department shall transmit the rules to the appropriate committees of the legislature for review. The legislature shall hold at least one public hearing to review the rules.

SECTION 3. Evaluative factors. In developing the rules described in section 2, the department shall do the following:

(1) Consider the technological feasibility of the rules;

(2) Consider the impact the rules may have on the economy of the State, including, but not limited to:

(A) The creation of jobs within the State;

(B) The creation of new businesses or the elimination of existing businesses within the State;

(C) The expansion of businesses currently doing businesses within the State;

(3) Provide flexibility, to the maximum extent feasible consistent with this Act, in the means by which a person subject to the rules adopted pursuant to section 2 may comply with the rules. That flexibility shall include, but not be limited to, authorization for a person to use alternative methods of compliance with the rules. In complying with this paragraph, the department shall ensure that any alternative methods for compliance achieve the equivalent, or greater, reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases as the emission standards contained in the rules;

(4) Grant emissions reduction credits for any reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles that were achieved prior to the operative date of the rules adopted pursuant to section 2, to the extent permitted by state and federal law governing emissions reduction credits. For purposes of this subsection, the department shall utilize the 2003 motor vehicle model year as the baseline for calculating emission reduction credits; and

(5) Provide appropriate enforcement and administrative penalties for any person that violates the rules adopted pursuant to section 2.

SECTION 4. Excluded provisions. The rules adopted by the department pursuant to section 2 shall not require any of the following:

(1) The imposition of additional fees and taxes on any motor vehicle, fuel, or vehicle miles traveled, pursuant to this section or any other provision of law;

(2) A ban on the sale of any vehicle category in the State, specifically including, but not limited to, sport utility vehicles and light-duty trucks;

(3) A reduction in vehicle weight;

(4) A limitation on, or reduction of, the speed limit on any street or highway in the State; or

(5) A limitation on, or reduction of, vehicle miles traveled.

SECTION 5. Reductions reporting. Not later than July 1, 2004, the department shall adopt procedures for the reporting of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources.

SECTION 6. Report to the legislature. By January 1, 2005, the department shall report to the legislature and the governor on the content of the rules developed and adopted pursuant to this Act, including, but not limited to, the specific actions taken by the State to comply with section 3. The report shall include, but shall not be limited to, an analysis of the following:

(1) The impact of the rules on communities in the State with the most significant exposure to air contaminants or air toxic air contaminants; and

(2) The economic and public health impacts of those actions on the State.

SECTION 7. Federal standards. If the federal government adopts a standard regulating a greenhouse gas emitted from new motor vehicles that the department determines is in a substantially similar time frame, and of equivalent or greater effectiveness as the rules that would be adopted pursuant to this section, the department may elect not to adopt a standard on any greenhouse gas included in the federal standard.

SECTION 8. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 9. This Act shall take effect upon its approval and shall be repealed on June 30, 2010.

INTRODUCED BY:

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