Bill Text: HI HB1346 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Energy Efficiency; Televisions; ENERGY STAR

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-12-01 - Carried over to 2012 Regular Session. [HB1346 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-HB1346-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO.  275

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2011

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1346

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 1346 entitled:

 

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

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to reduce the amount of energy used by televisions in the State in order to promote energy and efficiency and conservation.

 

     Specifically this measure:

 

(1)  Establishes statewide energy efficiency standards for televisions manufactured on or after July 1, 2013, with a screen size less than or equal to one thousand four hundred inches; and

    

(2)  Prohibits the sale or offer for sale of televisions in Hawaii that do not meet the energy efficiency standards.

 

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by Blue Planet Foundation and the Sierra Club-Hawaii Chapter.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Consumer Electronics Association, Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition, and Retail Merchants of Hawaii.  Comments on this measure were submitted by the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association.

 

     Your Committee finds that this measure has the laudable intent of establishing energy efficiency requirements for televisions that are sold in Hawaii.  However, your Committee believes that the standards established in this measure may be outdated and based upon specifications already surpassed by the consumer electronics industry.  Your Committee further finds that, over time, these efficiency standards may have the unintended effect of impeding energy conservation efforts as newer, more efficient television technologies become available to consumers.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended and simplified this measure by deleting the detailed energy efficiency specifications and, instead, linking Hawaii's television energy efficiency standards to the efficiency standards set by the federal ENERGY STAR program.  Specifically, the amended measure will prohibit the sale or offer for sale or installation in Hawaii of a television with a viewable screen area of one thousand four hundred inches or less, manufactured after June 30, 2012, unless the television meets the ENERGY STAR standard in effect at the time of the sale.  Your Committee believes that this amendment will provide the flexibility to adapt to changing television technologies while allowing manufacturers and retailers to implement energy efficiency standards effectively.  Your Committee has made various other technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of conformity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1346, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1346, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Economic Revitalization & Business.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection,

 

 

____________________________ HERMINA MORITA, Chair