STAND. COM. REP. NO. 154-18

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2018

RE: H.B. No. 1986

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 1986 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism to establish a Carbon Offsets Program to allow state agencies and other interested parties to acquire carbon offset credits to offset their respective carbon emissions and use the resulting proceeds to fund projects that improve the State's water infrastructure or mitigate threats to water sustainability efforts due to climate change.

The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, Office of Planning, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, The Nature Conservancy, Distributed Energy Resources Council of Hawaii, We Are One, Inc., Ho‘omanapono Political Action Committee, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, and several individuals supported this measure. Life of the Land and two individuals opposed this measure. The Department of Land and Natural Resources and Hawaii Farm Bureau provided comments.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing its effective date to January 28, 2045, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1986, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1986, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection,

____________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair