STAND. COM. REP. NO. 165

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 909

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Transportation and Energy, Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 909 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENERGY ASSURANCE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide policy guidance on preparing for, responding to, recovering from, and mitigating against any actual or potential energy supply disruption or shortage to preserve the State's energy security and to ensure that fuel products and energy resources are made available to emergency services and the public in an orderly, efficient, and safe manner.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation; Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Department of Accounting and General Services; State Department of Defense Office of Homeland Security; Department of Emergency Management; Hawaii Emergency Management Agency; County of Kauai Emergency Management Agency; Hawaii Natural Energy Institute; The Maritime Group, LLC; and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Office of Information Practices and Island Energy.

Your Committees find that ensuring that officials have proper guidance in case of an energy supply disruption or shortage is vital to protecting energy resources and providing stability in a time of crisis.  In case of an energy supply shortage, it is essential that emergency services and the public have access to energy resources and can access those resources in an orderly and well-defined manner.  Accordingly, this measure:

     (1)  Provides up-to-date policy guidance on data and analysis required to prepare for, respond to, and mitigate against an actual or potential energy supply disruption or shortage;

     (2)  Provides protection for confidential information collected to effectuate those purposes; and

     (3)  Clarifies the powers of the Governor and the Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism in an energy shortage or state of emergency.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Clarifying, upon the recommendation of the Office of Information Practices, that certain information the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism receives shall be afforded all protections from disclosure allowed under chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and Energy, Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 909, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 909, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair	________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair
	________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair