STAND. COM. REP. NO. 41

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 705

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 705 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO GENERAL EXCISE TAX,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a general excise tax exemption on gross proceeds arising from the construction, sale, installation, service, repair, modification, improvement, or lease of clean alternative fuel vehicles, electric vehicle batteries, and electric vehicle infrastructure.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Renewable Energy Action Coalition of Hawaii, Blue Planet Foundation, and EV Structure.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Taxation and Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committee finds that transportation fuels, most of which are imported, account for approximately two-thirds of all the energy consumed in Hawaii.  A general excise tax exemption on gross proceeds arising from the construction, sale, installation, service, repair, modification, improvement, or lease of clean alternative fuel vehicles, electric vehicle batteries, and electric vehicle infrastructure will provide a financial incentive to use clean alternative fuel vehicles and further the State's clean energy initiative goals.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Amending the definition of "electric vehicle infrastructure" to mean battery charging stations, rapid charging stations, and battery exchange stations; and

 

     (2)  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 and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 705, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 705, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Environment,

 

 

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair