STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1226

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1001

H.D. 1

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1001, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS RELATED TO THE MAUI WILDFIRES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish the Maui Wildfires Settlement Trust Fund to be administered by the Attorney General; and

(2) Appropriate funds to fund the settlement of claims related to the 2023 Maui wildfires.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Governor, Department of the Attorney General, one member of the Maui County Council, and Hawaii Association for Justice.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that the Maui wildfires settlement agreements reached in November 2024 consolidated and settled numerous claims arising from the 2023 Maui wildfires against the State and other defendant parties, including the County of Maui, Hawaiian Electric, Kamehameha Schools, Charter Communications/Spectrum, Hawaiian Telcom, and West Maui Land Company. Your Committee recognizes that it is in the public interest to resolve these claims and release the State from other potential liabilities arising from the 2023 Maui wildfires. Your Committee further finds that the proposed terms of the Maui wildfires settlement agreements require all defendants to pay $4,037,000,000, with the State to contribute approximately $807,500,000 over a period of four years. Your Committee notes that although the allocation of funds and the determination of individual compensation amounts have yet to be finalized, this measure would provide expedited financial relief to approximately two thousand two hundred affected individuals and families who filed lawsuits related to the 2023 Maui Wildfires.

Your Committee further notes public concerns regarding the long-term financial ability of all other defendant parties to timely fulfill their obligations under the Maui wildfires settlement agreements reached in November 2024. Your Committee finds it is prudent to ensure all other defendant parties pay their share before the State pays into the settlement fund. Amendments to this measure are therefore necessary to address this issue.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring all other defendant parties to the settlement to submit to the Attorney General a plan, and evidence, of their ability to pay their share of the settlement as the payments become due under the settlement agreement, subject to approval of the Attorney General, within thirty days of the effective date of this measure;

(2) Requiring all other defendant parties to the settlement to deposit their share of the settlement thirty days before the payments become due under the settlement agreement into an escrow account, under escrow instructions satisfactory to the Attorney General;

(3) Requiring all other defendants' shares of the settlement to be paid before the State agrees to release its share of the settlement; and

(4) 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 Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1001, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1001, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs,

________________________________

GLENN WAKAI, Chair