STAND. COM. REP. NO.  406-12

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2012

RE:   H.B. No. 2523

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 2523 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INTERISLAND ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION CABLE SYSTEMS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish the regulatory structure under which interisland undersea transmission cables can be developed, financed, and constructed on commercially reasonable terms.

The Governor; Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Public Utilities Commission; Division of Consumer Advocacy of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; General Contractors Association of Hawaii; Hawaii Interisland Cable, LLC; International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142; Blue Planet Foundation; Hawaiian Electric Company and its subsidiaries, Maui Electric Company and Hawaii Electric Light Company; Pacific Resource Partnership; the Building Industry Association of Hawaii; The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii; and three individuals testified in support of this measure.  Hawaii's Thousand Friends, the Conservation Council for Hawaii, and numerous individuals opposed this measure.  The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Life of the Land, and two individuals commented on this measure.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Energy & Environmental Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2523, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2523, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, & Ocean Resources and Energy & Environmental Protection,

____________________________ DENNY COFFMAN, Chair

____________________________ JERRY L. CHANG, Chair