STAND. COM. REP. NO. 58

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 103

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 Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 103 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERIES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish an Electric Vehicle Battery Recycling and Reuse Working Group to examine how to maximize the recycling and reuse of electric vehicle batteries and recommend electric vehicle battery management practices; and

(2) Require a report to the Legislature before the Regular Session of 2026.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Hawaii State Energy Office, Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi, Redwood Materials, Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Radius Recycling, Coalition Earth, and three individuals.

Your Committees received testimony in opposition of this measure from one individual.

Your Committees find that while electric vehicles are helping to reduce the State's dependency on fossil fuels and further progress towards a zero emissions clean economy by 2045, the batteries that power these vehicles may exacerbate the State's current landfill crisis. Your Committees recognize that the disposition of lithium ion electric vehicle batteries present unique waste management challenges, particularly given the potential for fire and toxic chemical releases, the limited options for affordably off-shipping used and damaged batteries, and the lack of proper lithium battery processing or recycling facilities in the State. Your Committees further find that the number of registered electric vehicles in the State has, and will, continue to grow and that the State has a responsibility to ensure that electric vehicle batteries are properly recycled or reused. This measure will inform policymakers of the management practices and regulatory framework for electric vehicle batteries necessary to ensure an equitable and efficient transition to a more energy resilient economy.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language to add a representative of the battery storage industry to the working group;

(2) Extending the deadline for the working group to submit a report to the Legislature to twenty days prior to the Regular Session of 2027; and

(3) 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 Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 103, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 103, 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 Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair