Hawaii-2021-HB1234-Introduced

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1234
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to the environment.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that climate change is an urgent, unfolding crisis that presents a serious threat to global stability and human existence. In 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a special report on the impacts of global warming and the need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions well before 2030 to hold warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Also in 2018, the United States' Fourth National Climate Assessment made clear that climate change will wreak havoc across the United States, and the current pace and scale of national climate action is not sufficient to prevent substantial damage to the economy, environment, and human health in the coming decades. Throughout the United States, communities of color, low-wage workers, and low-income communities have been on the front line of long-standing environmental injustices and have historically borne the brunt of the fossil fuel economy.

The legislature further finds that the State is already suffering from impacts of climate change in the form of increased wildfires, higher air and ocean temperatures, coastal erosion from sea level rise, and extreme rain events. The State will suffer increased and more severe impacts of climate change if global greenhouse gas emissions are not significantly reduced. Climate change will continue to make basic human necessities such as food, housing, healthcare, transportation, and energy more expensive and difficult to maintain, adding additional pressure to the State's high cost of living. To stay within 1.5 degrees Celsius, major populations throughout the world will need to significantly reduce their per capita emissions by 2030, and Hawaii has already taken some steps toward this goal.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a task force to recommend methods to reduce the use of fossil fuels for the purposes of protecting the environment, reducing wear on traffic infrastructure, decreasing traffic congestion, and reducing motor vehicle accidents.

SECTION 2. (a) There is established within the department of land and natural resources the reduction in driving task force to develop policies and incentives that allow individuals to work from home for the purposes of protecting the environment, reducing wear on traffic infrastructure, decreasing traffic congestion, and reducing motor vehicle accidents caused by operating motor vehicles.

(b) The task force shall consist of the following members:

(1) The chairperson of the board of land and natural resources, who shall serve as the chairperson of the task force;

(2) The director of transportation;

(3) The director of commerce and consumer affairs;

(4) Three representatives from private companies employing more than one hundred individuals, who shall be invited by the chairperson of the board of land and natural resources to become members of the task force;

(5) Three representatives from private companies employing less than one hundred individuals, who shall be invited by the chairperson of the board of land and natural resources to become members of the task force;

(6) The mayor of the city and county of Honolulu and the mayors of each of the counties of Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii; and

(7) Any other individual who the director of land and natural resources believes would be beneficial to the task force.

(c) The members of the task force shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses, including travel expenses, incurred for service on the task force. No member of the task force shall be made subject to chapter 84, Hawaii Revised Statutes, solely because of that member's participation on the task force.

(d) The task force shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2022. The report shall include:

(1) Recommendations on how to allow employees to work at home at least one day per week after the COVID-19 pandemic;

(2) The types of employees that should be allowed to work at home at least one day per week; and

(3) Methods to encourage or incentivize companies to allow employees to work at home at least one day per week.

(e) The task force shall cease to exist on June 30, 2022.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________