STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1264-16
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2016
RE: S.B. No. 3126
S.D. 2
H.D. 1
Honorable Joseph M. Souki
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Eighth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2016
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Education, to which was referred S.B. No. 3126, S.D. 2, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS,"
beg leave to report as follows:
(1) Appropriates funds to the Department of Education for equipment and installation costs for air conditioning and other heat abatement and energy efficiency measures in public schools; and
(2) Authorizes, the issuance of general obligation bond funds and appropriates funds for the Department of Education to fund capital improvement program equipment and installation costs for air conditioning, other heat abatement, and energy efficiency measures in public schools.
Pursuant to the requirements set forth in Article VII, Section 9, of the Hawaii State Constitution, the Governor, in Governor's Message No. 5 to the Legislature, requested immediate consideration and passage of this measure by the Legislature to appropriate emergency funds needed to implement a rapid response plan for heat abatement at public schools most in need before the start of the next school year.
Your Committees have amended this measure by deleting its contents and inserting in its place an amended version of House Bill No. 2569, H.D. 1., which is a similar measure that was passed out of your Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection earlier this Session. As amended, this measure:
(1) Requires the Department of Education to establish a goal of becoming net-zero with respect to energy use by January 1, 2035;
(2) Requires the Department of Education to establish in each county at least one microgrid pilot project at public schools that also serves as emergency shelters to allow for continued operations even during the failure of the larger electric grid during a natural disaster;
(3) Requires the Department of Education to expedite the cooling of all public school classrooms to a temperature acceptable for student learning, and to submit a report to the Legislature about the implementation of measures taken to cool public school classrooms;
(4) Appropriates $100,000,000 from the Hawaii Green Infrastructure Special Fund to the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism for maximizing the energy efficiency of all schools;
(5) Authorizes the Department of Education and Department of Budget and Finance, with the approval of the Governor, to borrow $100,000,000 from the Green Infrastructure Loan Program for capital improvement program equipment and installation costs for air conditioning and other energy efficiency measures related to heat abatement in public schools; and
(6) Appropriates $30,000,000 for general obligation bond funds to fund capital improvement program equipment and installation costs for air conditioning and other energy efficiency measures related to heat abatement in public schools.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Education that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3126, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3126, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Education,
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____________________________ ROY M. TAKUMI, Chair |
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____________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair |
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