STAND. COM. REP. NO. 236

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 52

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 52 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CARBON OFFSETS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Transportation to assist and enable a person to voluntarily purchase a verified carbon offset for carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the person's air travel to or from an airport in the State.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from 350Hawaii.org and one individual.

Your Committees find that while there are many contributors to climate change, transportation-generated greenhouse gas emissions are a significant source. As the State has a thriving tourism economy, it is essential to discover and implement ways to offset the carbon emissions from air travel. Your Committees further find that many travelers may take advantage of a program where air travelers may voluntarily purchase carbon offsets from providers of the offsets, given the increasing awareness by air travelers of the climate change implications of their travel. Therefore, by creating an easy step for travelers to voluntarily purchase a carbon offset for their air travel, this measure will facilitate a pathway towards greener energy.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) 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 Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 52, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 52, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and Culture and the Arts and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair