STAND. COM. REP. NO. 423

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 700

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 Government Operations and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 700 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RENEWABLE ENERGY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of Accounting and General Services to assess the potential and feasibility of installing distributed energy resource systems at each state facility and submit reports to the Legislature detailing the Department's findings;

(2) Require state facilities to implement and install the distributed energy resource systems detailed in the required reports no later than five years from the report's issue date;

(3) Require applicable agencies to assess the feasibility of developing resilience hubs that can provide emergency services and be open to the general public during times of emergency; and

(4) Assign priority for the required state facilities' cost-effective energy efficiency measures to first responder facilities.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from 350Hawaii.org, Kauai Climate Action Coalition, Green Peace Hawaii, Green Party of Hawaiʻi, and nine individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Education and Department of Accounting and General Services.

Your Committees find that increasingly frequent and violent natural disasters caused by climate change necessitate developing the State's resiliency. Significant investments in infrastructure and capacity-building will be required to prepare the State to weather these storms. This measure begins the preparation process by requiring a feasibility study on developing resilience hubs.

Your Committees note that S.B. No. 412, S.D. 1, Regular Session of 2025, which your Committees recently recommended passage, requires each state agency to expeditiously use energy efficient lighting and the Hawaii State Energy Office to provide technical assistance to state agencies for the transition, with priority given to first responder facilities, and conduct a compliance survey of all state agencies with technical assistance from the Department of Accounting and General Services. Therefore, your Committees find that portions of this measure are no longer necessary.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have:

(A) Required the Department of Accounting and General Services to assess the potential and feasibility of installing distributed energy resource systems at each state facility and submit reports to the Legislature; and

(B) Required state facilities to implement and install the distributed energy resource systems detailed in the reports no later than five years from the report's issue date;

(2) Inserting language that requires the Hawaii State Energy Office to assess the feasibility of developing resilience hubs in collaboration with state departments, rather than have the state agencies conduct the assessment themselves;

(3) Clarifying that the resilience hubs subject to the assessment shall utilize renewable energy when feasible, rather than be equipped with distributed energy resource systems;

(4) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose;

(5) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2491, to encourage further discussion; and

(6) 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 Government Operations and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 700, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 700, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs,

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair

________________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair