STAND. COM. REP. NO 59

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 646

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 646 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)  Permit the installation of clotheslines in any residential dwelling, apartment, condominium, or townhouse, under certain conditions; 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, or shorelines under certain circumstances.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Blue Planet Foundation.

     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 upward of ten percent of their household's energy demand.  However, many homeowner, condominium, and planned community associations have restrictions on the use of clotheslines that do not allow many homeowners the option of saving money and energy by drying their clothes on a clothesline.  Allowing the installation of clotheslines will provide homeowners with the choice to save money and energy and decrease the amount of fossil fuel electricity that Hawaii's households require.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting a private entity's authority to implement a height restriction on the placement and use of clotheslines on a balcony or lanai of a multi-story apartment or condominium structure.

     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. 646, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 646, 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