STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3072

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2636

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Transportation and Energy, to which was referred H.B. No. 2636, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SOLAR ENERGY FACILITIES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require a county with a resident population greater than 170,000 but fewer than 500,000 to require a special permit approval for the placement of solar energy facilities with a capacity of more than twenty-five kilowatts on certain lots within the agricultural district.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from four individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of Planning, Department of Agriculture, and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and one individual.

     Your Committees find that solar energy facilities are an important component of the State's commitment to increased reliance on renewable energy, however not all locations within Hawaii are appropriate for solar energy production.  Large-scale solar energy production facilities near residential developments can adversely affect residents, for example.  This measure provides a mechanism to mitigate those potential adverse effects.  Your Committees further find that the responsibility to initiate the permitting procedure rightly falls to the landowner instead of the counties.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by placing the mandate to initiate the permitting process on the landowner instead of the counties.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Transportation and Energy that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2636, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2636, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Transportation and Energy,

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair