STAND. COM. REP. NO. 58

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                   

 

RE:     S.B. No. 809

        S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 809 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:  

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Rename the Electric Bicycle and Electric Moped Rebate Program as the Electric Mobility Rebate Program;

 

     (2)  Expand the scope of the program to include electric micro-mobility devices and an additional rebate type;

and

 

     (3)  Appropriate funds.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Energy Office, Department of Transportation, Ulupono Initiative, and PeopleForBikes Coalition.

 

     Your Committee finds that the single greatest factor of the increasing cost of living in Hawaii is the rising cost of transportation.  To address this factor, Act 306, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022, established the Electric Bicycle and Electric Moped Rebate Program, administered by the Department of Transportation, to offer eligible individuals a rebate of twenty percent or $500 of the retail cost.  However, as Hawaii's people find alternative electric-powered modes of transportation, greater accessibility to the rebate program is needed to ease cost-of-living expenses in the State.

 

     Your Committee notes the testimony of the PeopleForBikes Coalition regarding the issuance of rebates under the Electric Mobility Rebate Program.  While current provisions of the program offer a rebate to eligible individuals purchasing a micro-mobility device, according to the PeopleForBikes Coalition, low-income customers are less likely to have the funds available to purchase a micro-mobility device at full cost while waiting months for a rebate check.  By providing an instant rebate to eligible individuals, there may be greater interest in the program, especially for individuals who could benefit from micro-mobility devices.  Your Committee additionally notes that the Department of Transportation should consider the possibility of an instant rebate program as a component of the Electric Mobility Rebate Program.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting language that would have defined an electric that a micro-mobility device to be designed to transport a single person;

 

     (2)  Repealing the requirement that eligible individuals under the Electric Mobility Rebate Program cannot own a motor vehicle with four or more wheels;

 

     (3)  Inserting language to allow for ten percent of the appropriation out of the Electric Mobility Subaccount to be used for the Department of Transportation's administration of the program; and

 

     (4)  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 Transportation and Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 809, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 809, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts,

 

 

 

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair