STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2179

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2178

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2178 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENERGY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Prohibit any binding agreement from preventing the installation of clotheslines in any residential dwelling, apartment, condominium, or townhouse, regardless of whether the installer owns the dwelling; and

     (2)  Define a reasonable restriction on the placement and use of clotheslines as any restriction that is necessary to protect public health and safety, buildings from damage, historic or aesthetic values, and shorelines under certain circumstances.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Blue Planet Foundation, Sierra Club of Hawaii, and two individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, Community Association Institute, Hawai‘i Association of REALTORS, and two individuals.

     Your Committee finds that because of Hawaii's climate, Hawaii homeowners often have the choice to save money and save energy by using a clothesline to dry their clothes.  Electric clothes dryers can cost a consumer upwards of ten percent of their household's energy demand.  Reducing the use of clothes dryers could substantially decrease the amount of fossil fuel electricity that Hawaii's households require.

     Your Committee further finds that many homeowner associations have restrictions on the use of clotheslines.  These restrictions do not allow many homeowners the choice of saving money and energy to dry their clothes.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that the installation of clotheslines is permitted only for owners of a residential dwelling, apartment, condominium, or townhouse;

     (2)  Inserting language to clarify that a private entity may adopt rules related to the use of clotheslines on the premises of apartments and condominiums, in addition to residential dwellings and townhouses; and

     (3)  Inserting language to allow a private entity to restrict the placement and use of clotheslines on a balcony or lanai to no higher than the exterior wall or railing of the balcony or lanai for multi-story apartments or condominiums.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2178, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2178, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Environment,

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair