STAND. COM. REP. NO. 392

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 768

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Transportation, to which was referred S.B. No. 768 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ZERO-EMISSION VEHICLES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require rental car companies to incorporate zero emissions vehicles in their rental fleets at specific intervals until their fleets are one hundred percent zero-emission vehicles by 2035.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from one member of the Hawai‘i County Council, Hawaiian Electric Company, Americans for Democratic Action, Kauai Climate Action Coalition, Ulupono Initiative, Imua Alliance, 350Hawaii, Mission Zero Hawaii, Kauai Electric Vehicle Association, Hawaii Electric Vehicle Association, Blue Planet Foundation, and thirty-four individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Transportation, Avis Budget Group, and Enterprise Holdings. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii State Energy Office.

Your Committee finds that emissions from ground transportation account for one of the largest shares of greenhouse gas emissions in the State. Requiring rental car companies to include zero-emission vehicles in their rental fleets will help Hawaii in its goal to be one hundred percent zero-emission by 2045.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing language that required rental car lessors to transition to one hundred percent zero-emission vehicles by 2035;

(2) Inserting language to create the Rental Car Modernization Task Force to submit reports and make recommendations to the Legislature in support of achieving a one hundred percent zero-emission rental fleet by 2035; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Transportation that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 768, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 768, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

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

________________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair