STAND. COM. REP. NO. 502

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 242

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 242 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a working group within the Hawaii State Energy Office to examine how to maximize the recycling and reuse of electric vehicle batteries and recommend electric vehicle battery management practices.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; Hawaii State Energy Office; County of Hawaiʻi Department of Environmental Management; Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi; Hawaii Electric Vehicle Association; Climate Protectors Hawaiʻi; Coalition Earth; Redwood Materials; Alliance for Automotive Innovation; and four individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from Radius Recycling.

Your Committee finds that electric vehicle usage in the State has grown dramatically, with a twenty-three percent increase in the number of registered electric vehicles from October 2023 to October 2024. Your Committee further finds that as electric vehicle usage increases, more electric vehicle batteries will enter the waste stream, necessitating proper recycling and disposal practices. This measure addresses this need by establishing a working group to examine how to maximize the recycling and reuse of electric vehicle batteries and recommend electric vehicle battery management practices.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adding a representative from the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute to the working group;

(2) Clarifying that the working group will include a representative from the battery energy storage industry;

(3) Adding a representative from a company specializing in the recycling of electric vehicle batteries to the individuals invited to serve as members of the working group;

(4) Changing the deadline for the report to the Legislature to twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2027;

(5) Clarifying that the report to the Legislature shall include an analysis of the reuse of electric vehicle batteries as potential stationary energy storage systems;

(6) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(7) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 242, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 242, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection,

____________________________

NICOLE E. LOWEN, Chair