STAND. COM. REP. NO.  546

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   H.B. No. 1384

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1384 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENERGY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to prohibit wind turbines within three-quarters of a mile of any residential, school, hospital, or business property line.

Life of the Land and numerous individuals testified in support of this measure.  Champlin Hawaii Wind Holdings, LLC; Blue Planet Foundation; and an individual testified in opposition to this measure.  The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Division of Consumer Advocacy and an individual provided comments.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Specifying that any permit plan application for a wind turbine shall be subject to an additional review by the Land Use Commission if the wind turbine:

          (A)  Generates greater than one hundred kilowatts of energy;

          (B)  Is located within three-quarters of a mile of any residential, school, hospital, or business property line; and

          (C)  Has not been grandfathered in by a permit plan application approved before July 1, 2015; and

     (2)  Setting requirements for the additional Land Use Commission review.

     Your Committee notes that the transferring of review of wind turbines from the Public Utilities Commission to the Land Use Commission places the measure under the jurisdiction of your Committee on Water and Land.  However, should this bill continue to conference, the chair of your Committee on Water and Land has agreed to serve as lead on this measure's conference committee.

     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 H.B. No. 1384, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1384, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

ANGUS L.K. McKELVEY, Chair