SB3183 SD1

Report Title:

Vehicular Emissions; DOH Regulations

Description:

Directs the DOH to develop greenhouse gas emission standards and adopt rules that achieve the maximum feasible reduction of greenhouse gases emitted by passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks and any other vehicles determined by the department to be vehicles whose primary use is noncommercial personal transportation in the State. (SD1)

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	3183
TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2006		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to vehicular emissions.

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

SECTION 1. The legislature recognizes that the greatest environmental challenge of the twenty-first century is to protect future generations from global warming.

The State of California has met this challenge by adopting the nation's strictest vehicular emissions standards. Based upon the "maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions" possible, the standards require auto makers doing business in California to begin implementing clean-running technology in new vehicles by 2009 and meet more stringent emission standards by 2016. The standards call for cars and light trucks to reduce exhaust pollutants by twenty-five per cent. Larger trucks and sport utility vehicles must cut emissions by eighteen per cent.

Under the federal Clean Air Act, states have the right to adopt the more stringent California program for its reduced automotive emissions or they must adhere to federal standards. Several states have adopted California's emission standards including New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington, Oregon, and Vermont. Together, these states have cut air pollution's public health risk significantly. They have also influenced automotive technologies that impact the way cars are built today.

It is time for the State of Hawaii to meet the challenge of reducing global warming and set vehicular emission standards that will protect our future generations.

The purpose of this Act is to initiate a process, similar to the process used in California, to establish the maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gases emitted by vehicles in the State of Hawaii.

SECTION 2. Chapter 342B, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§342B- Vehicular emissions; greenhouse gases. (a) The department shall establish greenhouse gas emission standards that achieve the maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gases emitted by new vehicles, including passenger cars, pickup trucks, and any other motor vehicle that the department determines is primarily used for noncommercial purposes.

(b) For purposes of this section:

"Greenhouse gases" includes carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.

"Maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions" means the greenhouse gas emission reductions that the department determines are:

(1) Capable of being accomplished within a reasonable time, taking into consideration environmental, economic, social, and technological factors; and

(2) Economical to an owner or operator of a vehicle, taking into consideration the full life-cycle costs of a vehicle.

"Passenger car" shall have the same meaning as that term is defined under section 286-2.

"Pickup truck" shall have the same meaning as that term is defined under section 291-14."

SECTION 3. Rules. No later than January 1, 2008, the department of health shall develop and adopt rules under chapter 91 that achieve the maximum feasible and cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles. The rules shall not take effect prior to January 1, 2009, to allow the legislature time to review the rules and determine whether further legislation should be enacted prior to the effective date of the rules, provided that the rules shall take effect prior to January 1, 2011. The rules shall apply only to motor vehicles manufactured in the 2012 model year or later.

SECTION 4. Evaluative factors. In developing the rules described in section 3, the department shall:

(1) Consider the technological feasibility of the rules;

(2) Consider the impact the rules may have on the economy of the State, including:

(A) The creation of jobs within the State;

(B) The creation of new businesses or the elimination of existing businesses within the State; and

(3) Provide flexibility, to the maximum extent feasible and consistent with this Act, in the means by which a person may comply with the rules, including authorizing a person to use alternative means of compliance, provided that the alternative means of compliance shall achieve an equivalent or greater reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases; and

(4) Provide appropriate enforcement and administrative penalties for any person or entity that violates the rules.

SECTION 5. Interim provision. The department of health shall develop and adopt rules under chapter 91 to grant emissions reduction credits for any reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles that were achieved prior to the operative date of the rules, to the extent permitted by state and federal law governing emissions reduction credits. For purposes of this paragraph, the department shall utilize the 2006 motor vehicle model year as the baseline for calculating emission reduction credits.

SECTION 6. Excluded provisions. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the rules adopted by the department pursuant to section 3 shall not require:

(1) The imposition of additional fees or taxes on any motor vehicle, fuel, or vehicle miles traveled;

(2) A ban on the sale of any vehicle category in the State, including sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks;

(3) A reduction in vehicle weight;

(4) A limitation on, or reduction of, the speed limit on any street or highway in the State; or

(5) A limitation on, or reduction of, vehicle miles traveled.

SECTION 7. Reductions reporting. No later than July 1, 2007, the department shall adopt procedures for the reporting of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from mobile sources.

SECTION 8. Report to the legislature. By January 1, 2008, the department shall report to the legislature and the governor on the content of the rules developed and adopted pursuant to this Act. The report shall include an analysis of:

(1) Which communities in the State have the most significant exposure to air contaminants or air toxic air contaminants, what impact the rules are expected to have on those communities, and the feasibility of tracking the long term impact of the rules on those communities; and

(2) What impact the rules will have on the state economy and public health, and the feasibility of tracking the long-term impact of the rules on the state economy and public health.

SECTION 9. Federal standards. If the federal government adopts a standard regulating a greenhouse gas emitted from new motor vehicles that the department determines would apply in a substantially similar time frame, and of equivalent or greater effectiveness than the rules that would be adopted pursuant to this Act, the department shall adopt the federal standard.

SECTION 10. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 11. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.