STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3385

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 188

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 Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Transportation and Energy, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 188 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE MAYORS OF THE STATE'S COUNTIES TO SUBMIT A PLAN DETAILING HOW EACH COUNTY WILL MEET THEIR PLEDGE TO ELIMINATE FOSSIL FUELS FROM GROUND TRANSPORTATION BY 2045 AND URGING THE MAYOR OF KALAWAO COUNTY TO SIGN THE PLEDGE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Mayors of the State's counties to submit a plan to the Legislature detailing how each county intends to meet its pledge of eliminating fossil fuels from ground transportation by 2045 and urging the Mayor of Kalawao to sign the pledge.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i. Your Committees received comments on this measure from Life of the Land and Hawai‘i Gas.

Your Committees find that Hawaii depends heavily on imported fossil fuel, resulting in a loss of billions of dollars for the State each year. Your Committees further find that fossil fuels negatively impact air quality and contribute to climate change via increased greenhouse gas emissions. Your Committees believe that electric vehicles provide a more cost efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to gas-powered vehicles. Your Committees note that the Mayors of the Counties of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, and the City and County of Honolulu have signed a proclamation to eliminate fossil fuels from all ground transportation, which accounted for roughly twenty-six percent of Hawaii's fossil fuel usage in 2015. Your Committees find that in addition to the proclamation, each county should actively plan to ensure that it will eliminate all fossil fuel from ground transportation by 2045.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Replacing the reference to "electric buses" with "renewable technology;

(2) Deleting any reference to the Mayor and County of Kalawao;

(3) Clarifying that each Mayor is requested to submit a plan for that Mayor's respective county;

(4) Amending its title to reflect its amended purpose; and

(5) 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 Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Transportation and Energy that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 188, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 188, S.D. 1.

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

________________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair