STAND. COM. REP. NO. 237

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 586

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. 586 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CLIMATE CHANGE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the State and counties to upgrade to zero emission buses by 2045.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, Hawaii State Energy Office, Office of the Mayor of the County of Hawaii, 350Hawaii.org, Coalition Earth, and one individual.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development, Public Utilities Commission, and State Procurement Office.

Your Committee finds that unabated greenhouse gas emissions, and resulting climate change and sea level rise, present an urgent and existential threat to citizens of the State. As the State has shown a dedication to mitigating the impacts of climate change through laws, statutes, regulations, and incentives, the statewide goal of net carbon neutrality is still a distant reality. Therefore, by implementing zero emission buses into the extensive transportation system of the State, this measure will drastically decrease the State's dependence on fossil fuels.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have:

(A) Required the Procurement Policy Board to adopt rules necessary to transition buses to be one hundred percent zero emission; and

(B) Defined "pollutant" and "zero emission bus";

(2) Requiring the state agencies who purchase or lease buses to seek vehicles that reduce dependence on petroleum;

(3) Defining the term "bus" for motor vehicle procurement requirements;

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

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

(6) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment 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. 586, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 586, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and 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