Report Title:

Appropriation; Public-Private Partnership; Alternative Energy

Description:

Appropriates $     in FY 2003-2004 and $      in FY 2004-2005 in matching funds to DBEDT for public-private partnership with Hawaii Technology Trade Association to develop an Internet website to act as a portal to market alternative energy activities and business opportunities in Hawaii.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

520

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

making a matching funds appropriation to support a public-private partnership to market and promote alternative energy activities and business opportunities in Hawaii by developing an alternative energy internet portal.

 

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

SECTION 1. It is a truism that Hawaii is an insular state that is geographically isolated in the middle of the Pacific ocean. As a result, the State has always been immensely dependent on imported energy, chiefly oil. Whether justified or not, Hawaii residents have always had to pay a premium for imported energy in all its forms – the most commonly recognizable one at the gas pumps. There have been efforts to increase the use of alternative energy resources, especially renewable resources, but these have met with less than satisfactory results.

The legislature finds that in a single year, renewable sources of energy, such as biomass, wind, hydropower, biogas, photovoltaic, and solar thermal resources, have saved the State as much as 3.5 million barrels of oil and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 1.9 million tons. Hawaii residents must make far greater use of renewable resources if they expect to significantly reduce dependence on imported petroleum and the associated pollution it causes.

The legislature further finds that the development of alternative energy resources in the State can be greatly accelerated and facilitated by the introduction and use of an Internet portal dedicated to information and issues relating to alternative energy activities and business opportunities in Hawaii.

The purpose of this Act is to promote and facilitate the development of alternative energy in Hawaii by appropriating moneys to enable the creation of a public-private partnership, to be operated on a matching funds basis, to develop and use an Internet portal to market and promote alternative energy activities and business opportunities in Hawaii.

SECTION 2. Alternative energy activities and business opportunities; marketing and promotion; public-private partnership. (a) The director of business, economic development, and tourism, without regard to chapters 42F and 103D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall enter into a two-year agreement with the Hawaii Technology Trade Association, in a public-private partnership, to develop an Internet website to act as a portal to market and promote alternative energy activities and business opportunities in Hawaii. The State, through the department of business, economic development, and tourism, shall provide funds to be matched by an equal amount from the private sector partner to the agreement.

(b) The agreement shall include at least the following:

(1) Measurable objectives and goals against which contract performance can be gauged;

(2) Clear delineation of roles, functions, and tasks to be performed by the two parties to the agreement;

(3) Specific conditions, including nonperformance, under which the contract may be terminated; and

(4) Reports to the governor and the legislature detailing progress of the marketing and promotion project to date, including expenditures and measurable effectiveness:

(A) First interim report due twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2004;

(B) Second interim report due twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2005; and

(C) Final report due June 30, 2005.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $           , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2003-2004, and the sum of $           , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2004-2005, for funding a public-private agreement between the State, through the department of business, economic development, and tourism and the Hawaii Technology Trade Association, as the private sector party to the agreement, who shall provide matching amounts in fiscal years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005, to develop an Internet website to act as a portal to market and promote alternative energy activities and business opportunities in Hawaii.

SECTION 4. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of business, economic development, and tourism for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval and shall be repealed on June 30, 2005, except that sections 3 and 4 shall take effect on July 1, 2003.

INTRODUCED BY:

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