STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1050-18

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2018

RE: H.B. No. 2182

H.D. 2

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2182, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Make permanent the Carbon Farming Task Force established by Act 33, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017, and rename it the Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force;

(2) Align the State's clean energy and carbon sequestration efforts with climate initiative goals and require that a member of the Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force also be a member of the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission; and

(3) Expand the mission of the Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force by requiring that the Task Force examine opportunities to exploit carbon sequestering trees and vegetation to reduce urban temperatures and thereby protect public health.

Young Progressives Demanding Action - Hawaii, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, Surfrider Foundation O‘ahu Chapter, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, and many concerned individuals supported this measure. The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Planning, and Department of Health provided comments.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount, to facilitate further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2182, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2182, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair