STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2567

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2198

       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 Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2198 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RENEWABLE FUELS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to create a task force within the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to perform a feasibility study and propose legislation related to locally produced fuels.

Specifically, the measure requires the task force to study and propose legislation relating to:

     (1)  Requiring locally produced renewable fuels to account for at least ten per cent of a distributor's annual sales of fuels for motor vehicles; and

     (2)  Requiring the mixture of up to five per cent of locally produced biofuels in diesel fuels.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of the measure from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and two individuals.  The Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism submitted written comments.

     Your Committee finds that creating a task force to study the feasibility of requiring fuel sales to include locally produced renewable fuels and biofuels, and to propose related legislation, would advance the State's goals of decreasing dependence on foreign oil, reducing gasoline consumption, and producing fuels locally.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying that representatives of private organizations shall be invited, rather than required, to participate on the task force;

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

     (3)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2198, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2198, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair