STAND. COM. REP. NO.  875

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   H.B. No. 1384

      H.D. 2

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1384, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENERGY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require additional review by the Land Use Commission of any permit plan application for wind turbines that are capable of generating more than one hundred kilowatts of energy and proposed to be sited within three-quarters of a mile from any residential, school, hospital, or business property line.  This review shall be in addition to any other requirements that must be met prior to issuance of a permit, and shall include consideration of:

(1)  The potential impacts on the community in which the wind turbine is to be located; and

(2)  How the permitted use or establishment of the wind turbine conforms to existing State and county land use policies.

Waihuena Farm and many concerned individuals supported this measure.  The Land Use Commission, Office of Planning, Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii, Tawhiri Power LLC, and a concerned individual opposed this measure.  The Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, and Blue Planet Foundation provided comments.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2030, to facilitate further discussion; and

(2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1384, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1384, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair