Bill Text: HI SCR117 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

Hawaii Senate Concurrent Resolution 117 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Requesting Public Utilities To Provide Fifty Percent Rate Discounts To Retired Senior Citizens.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - The hearing on this measure has been cancelled until further notice. [SCR117 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2020-SCR117-Introduced.html

THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	117
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Requesting public utilities to provide fifty percent rate discounts to retired senior citizens.

WHEREAS, many retired senior citizens aged sixty years and older live on fixed incomes and tight budgets that require them to limit or curtail the purchase of discretionary goods or services; and

WHEREAS, expenses that cannot be easily limited or curtailed are those offered by public utilities that provide electricity, water, gas, telephone, telecommunications, and taxicab services; and

WHEREAS, the gap between the costs of these services and the fixed incomes of retired senior citizens will tend to widen over time, making it increasingly difficult for a retired senior citizen to budget accordingly; and

WHEREAS, proactive measures must be taken so that retired senior citizens can maintain a reasonable quality of life and afford increasing public utility costs; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2020, the House of Representatives concurring, that any public utility having a certificate of public convenience and necessity obtained from the Public Utilities Commission is requested to provide a fifty percent rate discount to any retired senior citizen residing in the State; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Public Utilities Commission is requested to 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 2021 on actions that have been taken by public utilities or legislation that needs to be enacted to provide the fifty percent rate discounts to retired senior citizens; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Chairperson of the Public Utilities Commission, who in turn is requested to distribute copies of the Concurrent Resolution to all public utilities that currently hold a certificate of public convenience and necessity issued to them by the Commission.