STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1492

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2011

RE:   S.B. No. 181

      S.D. 1

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 181, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PHOTOVOLTAIC-READY NEW RESIDENTIAL HOMES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to encourage the use of solar energy by requiring that new single-family residential construction provide accommodations for the addition of photovoltaic systems.

     The Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; the Hawaii Chapter of the Sierra Club; the Blue Planet Foundation; Hawaii Solar Energy Association; and the Hawaii Renewable Energy Alliance supported this measure.  The City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting opposed this bill.

     While your Committee remains committed to increasing the use of solar energy statewide, your Committee realizes that it may be premature to require construction accommodations before thoroughly studying the feasibility of such a requirement.  Therefore, your Committee has amended this bill to establish a working group in the Department of Accounting and General Services to study the feasibility of establishing this new requirement for new single-family residential construction.  

     Your Committee also amended this bill by changing its effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 181, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 181, S.D. 1, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

ROBERT N. HERKES, Chair