STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1638

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 226

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 226, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Hawaii.

 

     Specifically, this measure:

 

     (1)  Requires the Department of Health to establish a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, equivalent to the statewide levels in 1990, which must be met by 2020;

 

     (2)  Requires the Department to adopt rules relating to greenhouse gas emission limits and emission reduction measures to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions;

 

     (3)  Requires the Department to regularly report and verify statewide greenhouse gas emissions and also to monitor and enforce compliance; and

 

     (4)  Authorizes the adoption of market-based mechanisms as a means of ensuring compliance.

 

     Your Committee received comments in support of this measure from the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, L.L.C., and forty-eight concerned individuals.  The Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism and the Hawaiian Electric Company submitted comments on this measure.

 

     Your Committee finds that it is essential that Hawaii make progress in its efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.  A comprehensive statewide greenhouse gas reduction program will serve as an example to other states, but will also position the State's economy, technology centers, financial institutions, and businesses to benefit from national and international efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

 

     Your Committee finds that, to fully create a comprehensive strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the State, the scope of the problem must be fully known.  Your Committee believes that an inventory of greenhouse gas sources must be made prior to the implementation of any emissions reduction plan.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Adding provisions, designated as part I, to:

 

(A)  Require the Department of Health to inventory Hawaii emissions sources and prepare an update to "Inventory of Hawaii Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimates for 1990," to be submitted to the Legislature in 2008 and 2009;

 

(B)  Appropriate moneys for the preparation of the inventory and the update;

 

(C)  Appropriate moneys to the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum of the University of Hawaii at Manoa to convene stakeholders to develop a plan with a timetable for greenhouse gas emissions reductions;

 

(2) Making the effective date of the foregoing provisions July 1, 2007;

 

(3)  Designating the existing provisions of the measure as part II and renumbering all sections consecutively; and

 

(4)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 226, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 226, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair