STAND. COM. REP. NO. 229

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 237

       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 Agriculture and Environment and Transportation and Energy, to which was referred S.B. No. 237 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BIOFUELS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Agriculture to establish the advanced biofuels pilot project.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Hawaii Farmers Union United; Hawaii Oil Seed Producers (HOSPRO) FDN; The Maritime Group LLC; Hawai‘i Gas; IMUAlliance; Clean Energy Solutions, LLC; Locals for Local Change; and twenty individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture.

     Your Committees find that reducing Hawaii's reliance on fossil fuels and generating one hundred percent of the State's energy from renewable resources will help Hawaii's economy by creating jobs, keeping an estimated $3,000,000,000 in the State that would otherwise be spent on imported oil, and significantly advance the State's clean energy goals.  Given the Governor's goal to double food production by 2020, your Committees have concerns about directing the Department of Agriculture to pursue large projects that may detract from that goal.

     Therefore, your Committees have amended this measure by replacing the Department of Agriculture with the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism as the entity responsible for establishing the advanced biofuels pilot project.

     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 S.B. No. 237, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 237, 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