STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3085

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                   

 

RE:     H.B. No. 2182

        H.D. 2

        S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Transportation and Energy, to which was referred H.B. No. 2182, H.D. 2, entitled:

 

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

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Repeal Act 33, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017 (Act 33), and create a new task force named as the Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force which has similar aims as the Carbon Farming Task Force created by Act 33, but expands and extends the task force until January 1, 2045;

 

     (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.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Healthy Climate Communities, Organizing for Action, Life of the Land, Sierra Club of Hawaii, 350Hawaii.org, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawaii, Maui County Farm Bureau, The Outdoor Circle, and seventeen individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Health, and Office of Planning.

 

     Your Committees finds that the Carbon Farming Task Force was established to benefit local farmers in Hawaii through additional subsidies and support to grow local agriculture, create jobs, and diversify the State's economy.  The task force was charged with identifying agricultural and aquacultural land management practices that sequester carbon to provide greenhouse gas reduction benefits, enhance sustainability of Hawaii's agricultural lands, decrease sedimentation of the marine environment, improve the climate resistance of Hawaii's agricultural sector, and create new opportunities for local farmers.  Your Committees further find that due to the serious threat that climate change poses to Hawaii, it is in the State's best interest to rename and expand the task force.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting duplicative language that would have amended chapter 342B, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to require a statewide target to sequester more atmospheric carbon and greenhouse gases than are emitted within the State by 2045;

 

     (2)  Deleting language that would have required that after January 1, 2020, all agency plans, decisions, and strategies must give consideration to the impact of those plans, decisions, and strategies on the State's ability to achieve the statewide target to sequester more atmospheric carbon and greenhouse gases;

 

     (3)  Repealing language in Act 32, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017, that would have repealed chapter 225P, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to make chapter 225P, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and the task force permanent;

 

     (4)  Inserting an appropriation amount of $150,000;

 

     (5)  Requiring the Office of Planning to submit a status update report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2021; and

 

     (6)  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 Agriculture and Environment and Transportation and Energy that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2182, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2182, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Transportation and Energy,

 

________________________________

LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

 

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair