STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2550

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2543

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2543 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SUSTAINABLE SCHOOLS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Education to establish zero-emission vehicle goals as part of the sustainable school's initiative and report to the Legislature regarding the same.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Hawaii State Energy Office, Hawaiian Electric Company, Ulupono Initiative, 350 Hawaii.org, Climate Protectors Hawaii, and two individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Education.

Your Committees find that traditional internal combustion school bus engines emit exhaust, which children breathe in while riding buses and sitting in traffic, and can potentially increase asthma and other health problems. Your Committees further find that electric school buses, in contrast, provide potential benefits to the quality of student health, the environment, utility infrastructure, and cost savings.

Your Committees note, however, that based on the testimony of the Department of Education, the transition to zero-emission transportation cannot be accomplished overnight. Any such transition must limit or avoid disruptions to critical transportation services provided by or through the Department of Education to students.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure to remove the mandate to transition to zero-emission vehicles by a date certain and instead require the Department of Education to conduct a feasibility study regarding the transition to zero-emission transportation in Hawaii's public schools by 2030.

Your Committees have therefore amended this measure by:

(1) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose;

(2) Amending section 2 to remove the transition mandate and instead require a feasibility study; and

(3) 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 Education and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2543, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2543, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair