STAND. COM. REP. NO. 158
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 997
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 Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs and Labor and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 997 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENERGY,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to require an attestation or declaration regarding project labor standards, including adherence to state-approved apprenticeship programs and prevailing wage requirements, for covered large-scale renewable energy generation projects.
Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Energy Office, Hawaii Laborers and Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, Operating Engineers Local 3, and Hawaiʻi Construction Alliance.
Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Clean Power Alliance.
Your Committees find that achieving the State's renewable energy standard of one hundred percent by 2045 necessitates the construction of large-scale renewable energy projects. Requiring the developers of these large-scale renewable energy projects to pay a prevailing wage will help ensure that workers are compensated fairly and that certain requirements for federal funding or credits are met, further motivating workers to pursue long-term careers in Hawaii's utility renewable energy construction sector.
Your Committees note that Senate Bill No. 743, Regular Session of 2025, is a similar measure regarding prevailing wages for those who work on large-scale renewable energy projects. Your Committees conclude that the language in Senate Bill No. 743 is preferable because it contains language authorizing preferential energy rates for the purchase of renewable energy produced from facilities in conjunction with prevailing wages.
Accordingly,
your Committees have amended this measure by deleting its contents and
inserting the contents of section 2 of Senate Bill No. 743, which:
(1) Grants
the Public Utilities Commission the ability to authorize preferential rates for
the purchase of renewable energy from facilities that meet certain prevailing
wage requirements; and
(2) Requires
public utilities to forward certain requests for preferential rates to the
Public Utilities Commission for approval.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs and Labor and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 997, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 997, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs and Labor and Technology,
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________________________________ HENRY J.C. AQUINO, Chair |
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________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair |