Bill Text: HI HB1536 | 2017 | Regular Session | Amended

---

Bill Title: Relating To Irrigation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Enrolled - Dead) 2017-04-26 - Conference Committee Meeting will reconvene on Friday 04-28-17 3:30PM in conference room 224. [HB1536 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2017-HB1536-Amended.html

---

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1536
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2017		H.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII		S.D. 1

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO IRRIGATION.

 

 

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

 

     SECTION 1.  Section 167-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "[[]§167-5[]]  Powers.  (a)  In addition to any other powers granted to the board of agriculture for the purpose of carrying out all of its functions and duties, the board shall have the following powers for the purposes of this chapter:

     (1)  To acquire by eminent domain, water and water sources either above or underground, watershed, reservoir sites, rights-of-way over lands and property for paths, trails, roads, and landing sites, ditches, tunnels, flumes, reservoirs, and pipelines necessary or proper for the construction and maintenance of water facilities for conveying, distributing, and transmitting water for irrigation and [domestic use] other agricultural uses, and for such other purposes as may properly fall within the scope of its activities in creating, managing, controlling, operating, and maintaining irrigation water facilities, any of which purposes shall be held to be for a public use and purpose;

     (2)  To make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers of the board, including, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, contracts and other instruments for the purchase or sale of water and for the purchase or lease of water facilities for irrigation of the area, including but not limited to the production of agricultural products and the land on which the facilities are situated, and for securing to the owners and occupiers of land already using water in a project a priority right to so much water from those of their sources and facilities which are taken over for the project as is required for the purposes or needs of the land, whether agricultural or nonagricultural in nature, as such purposes or needs exist at the inception of the project or are then contemplated in the immediate future;

     (3)  To make and from time to time amend and repeal bylaws and rules, not inconsistent with this chapter, which upon compliance with chapter 91 shall have the force and effect of law, to carry into effect the powers and purposes of the board;

     (4)  To make surveys for the purposes of determining the engineering and economic feasibility of each project;

     (5)  To conduct or have prepared comprehensive studies of the crops, livestock, and poultry which may be profitably grown or produced within each project and the probable market for such crops, livestock, and poultry;

     (6)  To conduct feasibility studies of the economic potential of the area;

     (7)  To determine the probable costs and value of providing water for irrigation in any proposed project;

     (8)  To investigate and make surveys of water resources, including the possibility and feasibility of inducing rain by artificial or other means; and

     (9)  To define and redefine the boundaries of projects and to consolidate or separate projects, existing or proposed pursuant to this chapter, provided that in the event the redefinition of the boundaries or the consolidation or separation previously effected increased the total amount required to be derived from acreage assessments upon lands within the existing project or projects by more than five per cent or will require an increase in the tolls charged for water supplied to the lands or will reduce the amount of water normally available for distribution to the lands, then the redefinition, consolidation, or separation may be accomplished only after notice has been published and a public hearing held as required for the formation of a project upon the initiative of the board.  At the hearing, right to protest and the procedure relative to protest shall be the same as specified in section 167-17 concerning the formation of projects, and the proposed redefinition of boundaries, consolidation, or separation of projects shall not be accomplished if protests, such as would be sufficient to prevent the action if it were the formation of a project, are filed by owners and lessees of land within the existing projects or projects affected thereby.

     (b)  The board is empowered, upon petition of land occupiers as provided by section 167-13, or upon petition of the Hawaiian homes commission or upon its own initiative, to prepare detailed plans for the acquisition or construction of facilities for irrigation or for economic development which in its opinion are economically feasible, to prepare estimates of the probable cost of each, and to prepare estimates of the water tolls and acreage assessments required for the cost of operation and the amortization of the investment of each project, so that the project shall be self-supporting."

     SECTION 2.  Section 269-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "public utility" to read as follows:

     ""Public utility":

     (1)  Includes every person who may own, control, operate, or manage as owner, lessee, trustee, receiver, or otherwise, whether under a franchise, charter, license, articles of association, or otherwise, any plant or equipment, or any part thereof, directly or indirectly for public use for the transportation of passengers or freight; for the conveyance or transmission of telecommunications messages; for the furnishing of facilities for the transmission of intelligence by electricity within the State or between points within the State by land, water, or air; for the production, conveyance, transmission, delivery, or furnishing of light, power, heat, cold, water, gas, or oil; for the storage or warehousing of goods; or for the disposal of sewage; provided that the term shall include:

         (A)  An owner or operator of a private sewer company or sewer facility; and

         (B)  A telecommunications carrier or telecommunications common carrier; and

     (2)  Shall not include:

         (A)  An owner or operator of an aerial transportation enterprise;

         (B)  An owner or operator of a taxicab as defined in this section;

         (C)  Common carriers that transport only freight on the public highways, unless operating within localities, along routes, or between points that the public utilities commission finds to be inadequately serviced without regulation under this chapter;

         (D)  Persons engaged in the business of warehousing or storage unless the commission finds that regulation is necessary in the public interest;

         (E)  A carrier by water to the extent that the carrier enters into private contracts for towage, salvage, hauling, or carriage between points within the State; provided that the towing, salvage, hauling, or carriage is not pursuant to either an established schedule or an undertaking to perform carriage services on behalf of the public generally;

         (F)  A carrier by water, substantially engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, that transports passengers on luxury cruises between points within the State or on luxury round-trip cruises returning to the point of departure;

         (G)  Any user, owner, or operator of the Hawaii electric system as defined under section 269-141;

         (H)  A telecommunications provider only to the extent determined by the public utilities commission pursuant to section 269-16.9;

         (I)  Any person who controls, operates, or manages plants or facilities developed [pursuant to chapter 167] for conveying, distributing, and transmitting nonpotable water [for irrigation and other purposes for public use and purpose;] and any irrigation project operated pursuant to chapter 167;

         (J)  Any person who owns, controls, operates, or manages plants or facilities for the reclamation of wastewater; provided that:

              (i)  The services of the facility are provided pursuant to a service contract between the person and a state or county agency and at least ten per cent of the wastewater processed is used directly by the state or county agency that entered into the service contract;

             (ii)  The primary function of the facility is the processing of secondary treated wastewater that has been produced by a municipal wastewater treatment facility owned by a state or county agency;

            (iii)  The facility does not make sales of water to residential customers;

             (iv)  The facility may distribute and sell recycled or reclaimed water to entities not covered by a state or county service contract; provided that, in the absence of regulatory oversight and direct competition, the distribution and sale of recycled or reclaimed water shall be voluntary and its pricing fair and reasonable.  For purposes of this subparagraph, "recycled water" and "reclaimed water" means treated wastewater that by design is intended or used for a beneficial purpose; and

              (v)  The facility is not engaged, either directly or indirectly, in the processing of food wastes;

         (K)  Any person who owns, controls, operates, or manages any seawater air conditioning district cooling project; provided that at least fifty per cent of the energy required for the seawater air conditioning district cooling system is provided by a renewable energy resource, such as cold, deep seawater;

         (L)  Any person who owns, controls, operates, or manages plants or facilities primarily used to charge or discharge a vehicle battery that provides power for vehicle propulsion;

         (M)  Any person who:

              (i)  Owns, controls, operates, or manages a renewable energy system that is located on a customer's property; and

             (ii)  Provides, sells, or transmits the power generated from that renewable energy system to an electric utility or to the customer on whose property the renewable energy system is located; provided that, for purposes of this subparagraph, a customer's property shall include all contiguous property owned or leased by the customer without regard to interruptions in contiguity caused by easements, public thoroughfares, transportation rights-of-way, and utility rights-of-way; [and]

         (N)  Any person who owns, controls, operates, or manages a renewable energy system that is located on such person's property and provides, sells, or transmits the power generated from that renewable energy system to an electric utility or to lessees or tenants on the person's property where the renewable energy system is located; provided that:

              (i)  An interconnection, as defined in section 269-141, is maintained with an electric public utility to preserve the lessees' or tenants' ability to be served by an electric utility;

             (ii)  [Such] The person does not use an electric public utility's transmission or distribution lines to provide, sell, or transmit electricity to lessees or tenants;

            (iii)  At the time that the lease agreement is signed, the rate charged to the lessee or tenant for the power generated by the renewable energy system shall be no greater than the effective rate charged per kilowatt hour from the applicable electric utility schedule filed with the public utilities commission;

             (iv)  The rate schedule or formula shall be established for the duration of the lease, and the lease agreement entered into by the lessee or tenant shall reflect such rate schedule or formula;

              (v)  The lease agreement shall not abrogate any terms or conditions of applicable tariffs for termination of services for nonpayment of electric utility services or rules regarding health, safety, and welfare;

             (vi)  The lease agreement shall disclose:  (1) the rate schedule or formula for the duration of the lease agreement; (2) that, at the time that the lease agreement is signed, the rate charged to the lessee or tenant for the power generated by the renewable energy system shall be no greater than the effective rate charged per kilowatt hour from the applicable electric utility schedule filed with the public utilities commission; (3) that the lease agreement shall not abrogate any terms or conditions of applicable tariffs for termination of services for nonpayment of electric utility services or rules regarding health, safety, and welfare; and (4) whether the lease is contingent upon the purchase of electricity from the renewable energy system; provided further that any disputes concerning the requirements of this provision shall be resolved pursuant to the provisions of the lease agreement or chapter 521, if applicable; and

            (vii)  Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit wheeling.

     If the application of this chapter is ordered by the commission in any case provided in paragraph (2)(C), (D), (H), and (I), the business of any public utility that presents evidence of bona fide operation on the date of the commencement of the proceedings resulting in the order shall be presumed to be necessary to the public convenience and necessity, but any certificate issued under this proviso shall nevertheless be subject to terms and conditions as the public utilities commission may prescribe, as provided in sections 269-16.9 and 269-20."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on January 7, 2059.

 

 

Report Title:

Irrigation; Water; BOA; Public Utility

 

Description:

Clarifies that the BOA has the power to acquire property by eminent domain for the construction and maintenance of water facilities that convey, distribute, and transmit water for agricultural uses, but not for domestic use.  Amends the definition of "public utility" to exclude entities that convey, transmit, and distribute nonpotable water.  Takes effect on 1/7/2059.  (SD1)

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.