SB588

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Act 97, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015, requires electric utilities in the State to achieve a one hundred per cent renewable portfolio standard by December 31, 2045, to transition the State away from imported fossil fuels and toward locally available renewable energy sources.

The legislature further finds that to encourage the timely build-out of a diverse, resilient, and reliable portfolio of low-cost renewable energy generation and storage assets, Hawaii must lower the administrative barriers that constrain deployment of residential and commercial-scale distributed energy resources.

The legislature further finds that the permitting review process currently adds substantial time and cost to the adoption of residential solar and energy storage projects and that self-certification by duly licensed design professionals can significantly reduce this time, cost, and administrative burden without sacrificing public health and safety.

The legislature further finds that unnecessary and misapplied rules in federally designated flood zones add undue time and cost to the installation of affordable and reliable renewable energy systems in vulnerable frontline communities, significantly hampering efforts to bolster their resiliency and protection from risk.

The purpose of this Act is to reduce administrative barriers to the deployment of energy generation and storage technology systems by requiring government entities in the State to implement permitting self-certification and streamlined, common-sense permitting processes in federally designated flood zones real time by .

SECTION 2. Chapter 196, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding two new sections to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§196- Self-certification; solar projects; energy storage projects. (a) Any government entity in the State that issues building permits shall establish a self‑certification process for behind‑the‑meter, customer‑sited solar distributed energy resource systems that deems permit applications approved and allows applicants to proceed to build the solar distributed energy resource system immediately; provided that the government entity receives written notice from:

(1) The project owner, or an agent of the project owner, that the owner or agent requests issuance of the permit and is prepared to pay any required fees; and

(2) The projects' relevant professionals are licensed in their respective fields and that the installation of the project shall comply with all applicable codes and laws.

(b) The self-certification process shall allow a project's relevant professionals to conduct permit reviews and inspections using commercially available software and the professionals' approvals shall be accepted without additional documentation; provided that the submitted documentation demonstrates compliance with all applicable codes and laws. In addition, the self-certification process shall allow a project's relevant design professionals to utilize offline field reports for inspections that use photos and videos submitted remotely to ensure faster, asynchronous reviews without added cost or delays. These measures ensure efficient, standardized permitting and inspection for behind-the-meter, customer-sited solar distributed energy resource systems.

(c) If the requirements of subsection (a) and (b) are satisfied, the applicable government entity in the State that issues building permits shall issue the building permit number and close the permit within thirty days of submittal of the application.

(d) As used in this section:

"Offline field report" means a report that uses photos and videos taken of the project on site and sent to a permitting authority to allow inspection remotely and asynchronously. "Solar distributed energy resource system" means an assembly of solar energy-generating or energy-storing materials, or any combined assembly of solar energy-generating and energy-storing materials, and the related infrastructure necessary for its operation.

§196- Solar distributed energy resource systems; No‑Rise/No‑Impact declaration requirements; exemption from Federal Emergency Management Agency. Any government entity in the State that issues building permits shall exempt behind-the-meter, customer-sited solar distributed energy resource systems from the Federal Emergency Management Agency No-Rise/No-Impact declaration requirements; provided that the project:

(1) Shall comply with all applicable codes and laws;

(2) Is properly installed on an already existing structure; and

(3) Does not create additional obstruction within the designated flood zone.

The value of the solar and storage distributed energy resource systems shall not be included in Federal Emergency Management Agency flood zone valuation calculations."

SECTION 2. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 3 This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2025.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	588
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII