Bill Text: HI SB524 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Commuting.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-12-10 - Carried over to 2022 Regular Session. [SB524 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2022-SB524-Introduced.html
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
524 |
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THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to commuting.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the State's policy of providing highly subsidized parking for state employees limits the employees' choices, does not reduce traffic congestion or greenhouse gas emissions, and contradicts state policies to encourage alternative modes of transportation. According to the department of accounting and general services, four thousand and seventy-six subsidized parking stalls are made available to state employees on Oahu, not including stalls located at the University of Hawai‘i or the department of education buildings. An additional two hundred forty-three are made available on Hawai‘i island, two hundred seventy-eight on Maui, and one hundred fifty-one on Kaua‘i.
The legislature further finds that for many years the State has offered the limited option to employees to pay for monthly parking privileges at the department of accounting and general services controlled lot located at or near the employee's workplace through pre-tax payroll deductions. In addition to the savings for purchasing parking pre-tax, the parking privileges are offered at a rate of approximately one-third of the public rate. For example, employee parking rates in the Honolulu downtown area range from twenty dollars to sixty dollars per month prior to any pre-tax savings, which is a fraction of the cost to park in a nearby private lot.
Comparatively, the cost of a monthly adult bus pass on Oahu is seventy dollars and the State does not provide a comparable bus pass benefit to its employees nor offer to all employees the ability to purchase a bus pass on a pre-tax basis. State employees who travel to work by bicycle, foot, wheelchair or other mobility aid, or private car-sharing also do not receive any transportation benefit or support even though their commuting modes reduce the number of cars driven in the State and parked in state lots.
The legislature also finds that other jurisdictions, such as Washington, D.C., have enacted transportation benefits equity laws and policies. Various options such as offering an equivalent transportation benefit that employees could select to apply to the cost of their preferred mode of transportation could be implemented.
The purpose of this measure is to require the director of human resources development, in consultation with the Hawai‘i climate change mitigation and adaptation commission, state energy office, and department of accounting and general services, to develop and implement a commuting choice benefit program for all state employees regardless of mode of transportation with the goal of reducing single occupant vehicles.
SECTION 2. The director of human resources development, in consultation with the Hawai‘i climate change mitigation and adaptation commission, state energy office, and department of accounting and general services shall develop and implement a comprehensive commuting choice benefit program for all state employees regardless of mode of transportation. The program shall include walking, rolling using a wheelchair or other mobility aid, car sharing, biking, and using public transportation, and shall encourage the use of healthy, safe, economically sound, and environmentally sustainable commuting modes and discourage the use of single-occupant vehicle commuting.
SECTION 3.
The director of human resources development
shall submit a report on the progress made toward implementing the program to
the legislature no later than forty days prior to the convening of the regular session
of 2022.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Department of Human Resources Development; Transportation; State Employees; Plan
Description:
Requires the director of human resources development, in consultation with the Hawai‘i climate change mitigation and adaptation commission, state energy office, and department of accounting and general services to develop and implement a comprehensive commuting choice benefit program for all state employees regardless of mode of transportation.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
