Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Environment

Okay. We're reconvening our Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs. We had a bill heard last week on Senate Bill 2699, regarding public transit. This is an opportunity for us to give young people free public transportation. But the Committee on Transportation has decided to defer this measure. So we will be deferring as well. With no further business, we are adjourned.

Hello, Mike. Good afternoon. Mahalo for joining today's AEN/EEIG hearing. It's Thursday, February 12, and we're convening in Room 224 and via video conferencing, which includes the audio and video of remote participants that's being streamed live on YouTube. In the unlikely event that this hearing is cut short, the committee will reconvene to discuss any outstanding business on Friday, February 13 at 3:05 PM during AEN's time slot, and a public notice will be posted on the Legislature's website.

And because of our ninety-minute time limit on hearings, there'll be a two-minute time limit for all testifiers, and we'll have a virtual countdown timer on the Zoom screen. So first up is SB 2373, establishing a state goal to strengthen nature-based carbon emissions reduction solutions. It directs certain state agencies to identify opportunities for investing in nature-based solutions that reduce carbon emissions.

It authorizes the Hawaii State Energy Office to develop methodologies to quantify carbon emissions reductions through marine ecosystem restoration and nature-based solutions. First up is the Hawaii State Energy Office.

Good afternoon, Chairs, Vice Chairs, members of the committee. Monique Zampas on behalf of the Hawaii State Energy Office. We stand on our written testimony providing comments. I just want to note that, regarding marine carbon sequestration, although we do focus on greenhouse gas emissions from the energy and transportation sectors, the emissions or the sequestration from marine ecosystems is outside of our expertise, and we respectfully ask to be removed and deferred to the appropriate academic institution or agency. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next is Jennifer Grimm from DLNR.

Aloha, Chairs, Vice Chairs, members of the committee. Leah Laramie standing in for Jennifer Grimm with DLNR. We stand on our testimony offering comments and available for questions. Mahalo.

Thank you, Leah. Mariana Evans from the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development.

Good afternoon, Chairs, Vice Chairs, members of the committee. My name is Danielle Bast, a sustainability coordinator from the Office of Planning and Sustainable Development. We're going to stand on our testimony offering comments, echoing similar concerns of our state agency counterparts, with just a couple of questions about scoping for the Hawaii State Energy Office. We did want to highlight that in 2019, we published a carbon offset feasibility program, which we found to be unlikely and problematic for the State of Hawaii.

And we also wanted to highlight that the DLNR is doing some great work in terms of carbon sequestration for the carbon-smart land management program.

Those are our comments. I'm available for questions. Mahalo.

Thank you. Chris Caulfield from Imua Alliance in support. Henry Curtis on Zoom from Life of the Land.

Not present on Zoom, Chair.

Okay. Ted Bohlen from Climate Protectors Hawaii in support, and Aaron Fradin, comments, and Veronica Moore with support. Anyone else wishing to testify on this measure, in person or online? Members, any questions?

Yes, please. Chair, I understand your hesitation on taking on this responsibility, and I kind of agree with you that it probably may not be in the wheelhouse for the energy office. But HNEI, do you think that's a better entity to take care of this?

I don't want to speak for them, but yes, I think the Department of Land and Natural Resources would also be a good fit. I know that AHRQ, I worked with them quite a bit on the decarbonization study that we did in 2023, and they were an incredible resource as well.

DLNR? Do you want to be in charge of this?

Yeah. With the proper resources and funding, we can definitely take this on. We've already been exploring it, but funding has always been an issue. As mentioned in our testimony, the methodology is already established. So we would ask that that part be taken out of the bill, because we can already use existing methodologies, but we can do the work to inventory and assess.

Great. Thanks for stepping up. Thanks.

Okay. Moving on to SB 2101, relating to organic waste, establishes statewide goals for solid waste reduction and organic waste diversion, requires each county to incorporate into its next integrated solid waste management plan revision a plan to reduce all organic waste produced within the county by facilities generating more than a specified amount of organic waste per year in alignment with established state benchmarks. And first up is Department of Health.

Good afternoon, Chairs, Vice Chairs, members of the committee. Lene Ichinotsubo with the Department of Health, Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch. We stand on our written testimony providing comments. While we support the intent of diverting waste from landfills, we do have some comments on implementation. Thank you.

Okay. Anyone else wishing to testify on this measure? Please come forward.

Thank you, Chair. Aloha, Vice Chairs, Chairs, committee members. Hunter Heaivilin on behalf of Hawaii Farmers Union. We've advocated for this measure for the past handful of years. We view it as a critical mechanism to make progress towards the state's goals of environmental management that are in everything from our state constitution down to the recent OHA plus challenge.

We view this as working as upstream as possible to ensure that there is a supply of high quality, locally produced agricultural inputs in the form of compost, by simultaneously addressing the need for improved soil health on many of our public lands, on farm fields across the islands. And we view this as a structured approach. Right? So we're setting benchmarks now. We then have time to build up the infrastructure necessary through CIP, through PPPs, or otherwise, whether it's county, privately developed, or otherwise.

So we think that particularly Vermont's approach offers a robust model for this being possible, and that the outcomes, even though they may be down the line, are ones that I don't think we'll achieve some of the goals we have for our food production without. Happy to answer any questions. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify.

Okay. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to testify on this measure? Members, any questions? Yes.

You just said Vermont as a model. Expand on that a little bit.

Sure. So Vermont had implemented, effectively, an organic waste ban that initially began with large waste generators. Right? So if you were producing greater than x tons per month or week, and over a series of years decreased what that volume was that then hit the threshold, that allowed a simultaneous increase in infrastructure to handle the waste being diverted. Right?

So say you're a large tree trimming or landscape operation that would otherwise be hauling things to a landfill. In some of the counties, that's the case. Or say you are a large food delivery, or rather, food service entity that would otherwise maybe not be in a county that's regulated under food diversion standards.

The idea is that they ramp down the volume, and they were actually able to successfully then implement diversion at the household level. And it was an easy switch because the infrastructure was all already in place. So while that's something that I think we'll leave to each county about how they want to get there, it's something that Honolulu County has been pursuing and stumbling over a bit for some time.

But I view it as a strong model that allows us the time to build out the infrastructure, and the definition of the distance is so that we can then start thinking through at the county level.

Right? If you're in North Kohala, we don't want you to have to drive to South Kona because that's where the nearest facility is. And I think having some specificity with counties, and that's part of why their planning is written in here, allows us to both define what's a reasonable transportation distance while also simultaneously thinking about where we might want to site some of these facilities, and using that distance designation to help determine that.

Yeah. When I was in county, this all came under me. One of the big struggles was trying to figure out how to get the organic waste out of the landfill. I was trying to remember how many cubic liters of methane we produce because of the organic matter in the landfill. And I don't disagree. We have to have a shift in the culture of sorting. But if we don't have the infrastructure, that's why we don't do it.

And this is, again, not intended on addressing household decision making or behaviors. If we ended up getting there in fifteen, twenty years or something, great. This ensures that large generators that probably have diversion planning in place to some degree already, and if not, they should.

Just making sure that we're taking this waste stream, turning it into a resource to support good compost production. We already have state incentives, right? The 50% reimbursement program incentivized compost use.

So we want to make sure that there's more opportunity to get good access to it.

And we collectively, as counties and states, struggle with our landfills, and I think the number I recall is about 40% is organic. So if we remove that, theoretically, we're doubling the life of our landfill. So there's more than just getting the carbon sequestration. There are other aspects.

There are many others. Right? The number of communities that want a landfill in their district is zero, and the number of communities who are concerned about biosecurity as a result of the transportation of agriculture and plant media is probably 100.

So we can simultaneously address a number of these issues. So we view it as an important measure. I think working with the Department of Health and county waste departments is critical for it to be successful, and that's part of why there's a lead time written in.

Maybe those dates should be updated. We've been introducing a measure similar to this for some years, and maybe we need to rejigger those. But I do feel like it addresses a panoply of issues, not as a silver bullet, but as one measure that I think can help us make progress.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Okay. Thank you, Hannah. Moving on to the next measure, SB 2905, increases the environmental response energy and food security tax and the amount collected from the tax that is deposited into the electric vehicle charging system subaccount. First up is Y State Energy Office.

Chairs, vice chairs, members of the committee, Chris Yunker for the Hawaii State Energy Office. We stand on our written comments, and are here for questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Johnny Tomura from the Public Utilities Commissioner.

Good afternoon chairs, vice chairs, members of the committee. I'm, Ashley Norman on behalf of Chair Itamura, from the Public Utilities Commission. We stand on our written testimony in support with comments, and I'm available for any questions. Mahalo.

Thank you.

Our department of taxation.

Good afternoon, chairs, vice chairs, members of the committee. Garrison Kurth on behalf of the Department of Taxation. We will stand on our written testimony providing comments on our administration, and I'm here if you have any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Ed Sniffen, DOT on Zoom.

Not present on Zoom, Chair.

Chris Caulfield from Imua Alliance.

Tom Yamachika on Zoom for the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

Aloha and good afternoon. Colleen Teramae on behalf of our president, Tami Yamachika. The Tax Foundation of Hawaii stands on its written comments. Mahalo.

Okay. Thank you. Next is duration from our children's trust.

Aloha, chair, vice chair, members of the committee. My name is Doorae Shin, testifying in support of this bill on behalf of Our Children's Trust. Our organization with Earthjustice represents the 13 case, which resulted in a landmark settlement in June 2024, which requires the state achieve zero emissions in the transportation sector by 2045. This bill addresses one of the most significant barriers to EV adoption.

We'll also note that the Department of Transportation's recently published plan calls that we get to 80% battery electric vehicle adoption by 2030, and we're currently only at about 14% EV sales per year.

So with a huge gap between the goal in the next four years and where we're at. Transportation is one of the largest household expenses, and electric driving electric offers substantial savings, but charging infrastructure remains a large barrier, so we stand in strong support of this bill.

Thank you. Next is Luca Kimberti from the Hawaii Youth Transportation Council.

Aloha, chairs, vice chairs, members of the committee. My name is Luca Kimberti. I'm the policy and legislation chair here at the Hawaii Transportation Council. We stand in strong support, you know, giving our rural communities and everyone a chance to charge their electric vehicle for independence and just, allowing electric vehicle adoption to really run wild in our state. So Mahalo, and we send our written testimony available for your questions or comments.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. And also Chapin or Chapin Fish on Zoom?

Not present on Zoom, Chair.

Okay. Anyone else wishing to testify on this measure? We had 11 in support, one opposed. Members, are there any questions?

Yes. Mister Yunker. So this bill contemplates increasing the barrel tax by 10¢.

That 10¢will go to the barrel or EV charging system subaccount goes from 3¢to 13¢. We're gonna quadruple the amount that's put into this account. How much money sits in the account right now?

I do not know. They've all I know is that the current program has been fully subscribed, and they're waiting for additional funding to and they have, EV chargers ready to to fund at this point.

Okay. So on an annualized basis, how much do we put into this sub account?

I do not know.

Okay. And so you don't know how much we put in any every year and you don't know how much is in there right now?

No. This is administered through the public utilities commission and through their administrator. Sorry.

I'm asking the wrong person. Someone from the public utilities commission? Sorry about that.

No problem.

Help me answer that question. How much do we put into this sub account and how much is in there right now?

The annual appropriation is 750,000, and I believe there is about that amount in the account right now. We're getting ready to contract for this fiscal year, so it's been pretty, fluid or, you know, the appropriate amount has been allocated thus far, and they the whole energy program who administers the program on behalf of the PC, has noted, you know, high demand year over year and whatever the final increase should there be an increase to this program?

You know, I think I mean, they've certainly shown that the the program has much success, and we can provide even additional data if helpful to understand what that appropriate level would be.

Okay. So under the the language of this bill, we're gonna quadruple that. So we're gonna go from 750,000 a year to $3,000,000 a year. I mean, the electricity, the

rate payers for electricity are gonna pay for that. Those who don't have the luxury of having an EV are going to pay for that. So that's the expenditure side. Are we is there a good chance that we have enough capacity and construction work to be able to fully put into place $2,000,000 of EV charging systems in the state?

But I can only speak

to what I know of, studies that HECO has conducted in in the last couple years relating to, EV, infrastructure deployment is they were looking for a pretty substantial EV, charging deploy deployment initiative. And I think it's on the order of several thousand chargers to meet, you know, state decarbonization goals by 2030. I mean, as far as demand, I think this is a different question. We can certainly, again, provide additional data from the work we're doing with Hawaii Energy.

But I do know that they continue to have substantial demand, substantial backlog to support at least an increase in the current level of funding.

Yeah. I remember seeing an HNEI presentation last month that says in terms of HECO's ability capacity, they only have 5% available on the grid. So as if we pile on more and more increased barrel tax to build out more EV chargers, HECO is totally unequipped to be able to meet that demand and get the distribution to wherever the EV charging stations might be. So I understand our desire to to provide resources.

But if on the other side, we we have a utility that's incapable of even getting the the electricity to wherever the charging stations might be, then all all we're doing is we're gonna make people pay more and deliver less in the future.

I definitely hear your point. I think what would be helpful is for us to provide better data on what is the appropriate level. I'm not sure where this increase of 10¢ on the barrel tax and then the additional 10¢ for the program originated. But, again, we can certainly, you know, look to what might be the appropriate level that would actually be reasonable and feasible. Okay.

So if this bill were to move on, can you get that number to whatever committee hears us next?

Yes, we can. At least one's here. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Moving on to the next measure, SB 3231 relating to ag districts requires condominium maps for lands within an ag district to include a letter signed by an appropriate county official or agency certifying that the condominium property regime will conform to county zoning laws authorizes counties to require the county's approval of the subdivision of parcels of land larger than 10 acres prior to the effective date of the condominium property regime. First up is Deb. Anyone from Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity? Okay.

Here in support.

Brian Miyamoto from Hawaii Farm Bureau.

Thank you, Chair. The Hawaii Farm Bureau was down on its written testimony in support.

Janine Mariano from the Purple Maya Hawaii Food Plus Policy.

Okay. That's Anyone else wishing to testify in person or online? And members, any questions? Okay.

Chair, let's turn it over to you.

Okay. Members, we're moving on to Senate Bill 2486 relating to climate change. On our testifiers list, we have Mark Glick or Monique from the energy office.

Chairs, Vice Chair, member of the committee, Monique Zampas, on behalf of the Hawaii State Energy Office. We stand on a written testimony providing comments. I am available for questions. Just wanna note this measure we do feel is a little bit redundant with, both our 2023 decarbonization report and the more recent, comprehensive climate action plan completed by the Climate Commission. So we really feel right now we wanna implement those measures rather than do another plan.

Thank you.

Thanks, Monique. Leah Laramie.

Aloha, chairs, vice chairs. Leah Laramie with the Climate Change Mitigation Adaptation Commission. We stand on our testimony offering comments and available for questions. Mahalo.

Great. Thank you, Mary Alice Evans or Daniel.

Aloha chairs, vice chairs, members of the committees, and, Daniel Bast from Office Supply and Sustainable Development. We are testifying, offering comments. We do share and echo the concerns raised by our sister agencies at Energy Office as well as the Climate Commission. In terms of some duplication for climate planning, we do wanna raise and highlight that, there have been plans for decarbonization as well as the EPA's funded climate action plan that was given to the Hawaii Climate Commission and that they have since published.

We would like to we do see in this bill that there is some adaptation language for this climate this proposed climate plan.

And we do wanna remind the legislature that OPSD has previously included in the governor's 2024 administrative package a proposed climate adaptation resilience plan for the state of Hawaii. Thankfully, to the governor's office, that is included in the green fee project proposal for this year, and we have a subsequent Senate bill matching that project proposal. So in terms of adaptation, that is our proposal. Thank you. And I'm available for questions.

Okay. Thank you, Daniel. Members, that's all I have is individuals indicating they'd like to testify. Is there anyone in the room or online that would like to comment on Senate Bill 2486? If not, members, any questions?

Okay. We're gonna move on then to our last bill on this agenda, that being Senate bill 2376 relating to the renewable fuels production tax credit. On our testifiers list, we have Gary Suganuma or someone from DOTAX.

Yes. Good afternoon. Again, Garrison here at the Department of Taxation. We' strand on our written testimony providing comments. Any other questions?

Thank you.

Thank you, Garrison. Mark Glick or Monique from the energy office?

Chairs, vice chairs, member of the committee, Monique's Zampas, Hawaii State Energy Office. We stand on our written testimony providing comments. We do have some concerns regarding the rollover provision in this bill. So I advise you guys to take a second look at that, and I am available for questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Augi Tolba council member.

Welcome. Aloha. Aloha. Chair Gabbard, chair Chang, Wakai, and committee members. I am council member Augie Tolba, representing EVA and White Paulo.

I'm here for, to stand in strong support. This bill is about strengthening Hawaii's economy. Right now, our economy relies too heavily on small number of industries. When those sectors slow down, we all know that the impact spreads quickly across our state. We need to broaden our economy base and build more stability and renewable fuel production, I think, is a smart way of doing that.

This bill updates the renewable fuel energy production tax credit to give businesses clarity and confidence to invest in Hawaii. That means more local production, more economic activity happening in state, and more of our energy dollars staying in our local economy instead of leaving it. This bill supports a growing industry that builds on our existing workforce, supports agriculture and makes productive use of unutilized land. It creates long term infrastructure and positions Hawaii to be more self reliant and resilient.

At the end of the day, the bill helps diversify our economy, strengthen our local investment, and create more stable economic future for Hawaii.

Mahalo for the opportunity and standing with strong support. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Eric Wright from Par Hawaii. Thank you, Eric.

Bob King, Civic Biodiesel.

Hello, chairs, vice chairs, and members. Bob King, president of Pacific Biodiesel. This is a very important bill for us where as we continue investing in renewable energy and agriculture here in Hawaii, It's it's been a tough few years and we anticipate a few more tough years as the Federal Government is changing path. But we want to keep on this path and we want to keep investing in Hawaii. And this is an important way to for us to get those investments needed.

So I appreciate it. It can be more. That would be great. But, you know, we'll take what what we what we can get in, and it's gonna be very helpful. So I appreciate your your work on this. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, mister King. Nahelani Parsons, Renewable Fuels Coalition.

Aloha chairs. Vice chair members of the committee, Nahelani Parsons on behalf of the Hawaii Renewable Fuels Coalition testifying in support this measure. Our coalition represents a really broad cross section of all of those impacted positively, like, from a policy like this. It includes farmers, landowners, fuel producers, transportation, and utilities as well. The diversity reflects the wide reaching impact of a tax credit such as this and the role it can play in our economy as well as our environment.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I'm available if you have questions.

Thank you, Naya. Chris Barnet, Hona Pacific. Thank you, Chris. Anyone from Hawaii Gas? Members have submitted testimony support.

Brian Miyamoto.

Thank you, chair. The Hawaii Farm Bureau stands on his written testimony. Again, support.

Thank you, Brian. Theodore Melchros?

Hello, chairs, vice chairs, committee members. I'm Ted Metro's, independent. I will just, wanted to convey some points so that people do this with their eyes fully open. The tax credit program is not a viable solution. It cannot possibly be scaled up.

The jet fuel estimates are 600,000,000 gallons a year. Tax credits of $2 would be $1,200,000,000 more than 10% of our tax base being brought in. Total volume of fossil fuels is 1,300,000,000. So even if it was just a dollar per gallon, it would be blowing out our budget tremendously. We can't cover even what the gentleman here today would like to have.

I would like, and I have some details to convey some improvements on this bill, which I do support, because it's pretty narrow. But this bill should include the location of feedstock supply. It should include a nonrefundable tax credit as recommended by the DOTAX last year, and it should also include a provision that allows DOTAX to certify as to whether they are valid or whether a company is legitimate for taking the credits as required by IRS position N twenty five N. Happy to field questions later.

Great. Thank you, Tim. On Zoom, we might have Tina Yamaki from the Hawaii Transportation Association.

Not present on Zoom, chair.

Okay. Do we have anyone from the Tax Foundation online?

Yes. We do, chair.

Aloha. Colleen Teramai from the Tax Foundation on behalf of Tanya Machika. Tax Foundation of Hawaii stands on and comments. Mahalo.

Great. Thank you for joining us. Is there anyone else here wishing to testify on Senate Bill 2376?

Yes. Jacob Aoki on behalf of Alaska Airlines, we'll be standing on our.

Great. Thank you, Jacob. Is there anyone else? Okay. Members, any questions?

Tax department? Is it Garrett? Garrett? Garrison. Garrison.

Yep. I wanna go over the issues you brought up in your testimony. So you're asking for a definition. I worked on getting a definition. You've asked us for qualifying renewable product cost.

I have come up with language for that. One thing I wanted to ask is there are there could be multiple renewable fuel tax credits.

Would it be prudent for us to make sure that if you avail yourself to this tax credit, that as a producer of renewal fuels, you can't get another tax credit?

I think so. And most of the credits are set up that way with that language so that you cannot use the same cost at least to claim more than one credit per taxable year.

Okay.

Because this body is contemplating another bill that might create a separate renewable fuels tax credit. I wanna make sure that whoever is playing in this space You either choose that one or you choose this one, but you're not gonna get two bites at the apple.

Right. Right.

And we have standard language we could forward to that to put in both bills just to make sure that it's clear to everyone and that there's no ability to do that.

Okay. Okay. That's the only question I have. Okay.

Thank you. Any other questions? If not, we're going to take a brief recess, prior to taking the vote.

Okay. Reconvening these right, AIG and AEN committee. Chairs are conferred. We have some decision making. We've done.

And on SB 2373, the recommendation will be to pass this amendment to authorize DLNR to evaluate and develop methodologies, to assist in the quantification of carbon emission reductions, that may be attained through marine ecosystem restoration and other nature-based solutions. And we will be removing HSCO from that responsibility, and Mahalto DLNR for stepping up to the plate. And we'll also be defecting the date to 07/01/2015. Members, any discussion? Chair votes aye. Vice chair?

[Roll Call]

Senator Awa is excused. Chair, you have three in favor motion adopted.

Thank you very much. And I speak oh, I'm sorry.

For EIG members, same recommendation recommendation. Any discussion? If not, Senator Chang, I vote yes.

Chair's recommendation for SB 2373 is to pass with amendments. Chair votes yes. Vice chair votes aye. Senator DeCoite is excused. [Roll Call]

The recommendation is adopted. Thank you.

And then on SB 2101 relating to organic waste, establishing statewide goals for solid waste reduction and organic waste diversion. The chair's recommendation will be to pass with all of Department of Health suggested amendments as well as defecting the date to 07/01/2015 for further conversation. Any discussion?

[Roll Call]

For members of EIG, same recommendation. Any discussion? If not, Senator Chang, I vote yes.

Chair's recommendation for Senate Bill 2101 is to pass with amendments of the members present, noting the excusal of senators Decoy and Camilla. Are there any objections or reservations? Seeing none, the recommendation is adopted.

Okay. Moving on to

2905?

Yeah.

Moving on to SB 2905, increasing the environmental response to Energy and Food Security Tax. The Chair's recommendation would be to pass with an amendment defecting the date to July 1st, 2050. To continue the conversation, any--

Yes?

Chair?

Yeah, just quick conversation. I'll be voting with reservations on this just because of the infrastructure needs and concern for some of the costs there.

Okay. All right. For AEN, Chair votes aye. Vice Chair.

On SB 2905, passing with amendment, Chair votes aye. Vice Chair votes with reservations. [Roll call]. Chair, you have three in favor.

Thank you, members.

Members of EIG, same recommendation. Any discussion? If not, Senator Chang, I vote yes.

Chair's recommendation for Senate Bill 2905 is to pass with amendments. [Roll call]. The recommendation is adopted.

And then on SB 3231, having to do with Ag districts and condominium maps for lands within an Ag district, Chair's recommendation would be to pass as is. Any discussion? Chair votes aye. Vice Chair.

On Senate Bill 3231, passing unamended, Chair votes aye. Vice Chair votes aye. [Roll call]. Chair, you have three in favor.

Thank you, members.

On EIG, or members of EIG, same recommendation. Any discussion? If not, Senator Chang, I vote yes.

Chair's recommendation for Senate Bill 3231 is to pass unamended. Of the members present, are there any objections or reservations? Seeing none, the recommendation is adopted.

K. We're gonna go on to Senate bill 2486 relating to climate change. The two chairs have conferred and agree that there are multiple there there was a study done just three years ago on this particular issue and feel that it's perhaps not necessary at this moment to pass this measure. So we are going to defer action on twenty four eighty six. The last measure on the agenda is Senate bill 2376 relating to the renewable fuels production tax credit.

We're gonna make about or we're gonna make four amendments to to this measure, all in response to DOE taxes commentary. They asked for a qualified renewable fuel fuel production cost, a definition for that. So we're gonna define it as meaning the cost incurred by a qualified production within the state that are subject to the general excise tax under Chapter two thirty seven at the highest rate of tax or income tax under this chapter if the costs are not subject to general excise.

DOTAX also asked us to have a definition for separate renewable fuels production. We are going to appease that request by on page two, line 17.

After it says each separate qualified renewables fuels production, we're gonna add these words located at a separate physical site, and then the bill goes on to say that meets the eligibility requirement of this section. We will also make sure that the that whoever takes part in the the this tax credit is not able to take care of any other renewable fuels production tax credits that might pass legislation in the future.

And also, we're gonna take DOTAX's suggestion of beginning this bill for taxable years after 12/31/2026, and we're gonna defect the date to April '2. Those are the limits to this measure that are being offered. Any discussion?

If not, Senator Chang, I vote yes.

Chair's recommendation for Senate bill 2376 is to pass with amendments. The members present, are there any objections or reservations? Seeing none, the recommendation is adopted.

Same recommendation for AEN. Chair votes aye, vice chair.

On Senate Bill 2376, passing with amendments, chair votes aye, vice chair votes aye. Senator DeCoite and Awa are excused. Senator Rhodes? Aye. Chair, you. Three in favor, motion is adopted. Great. Thank you.

A little before you drift. I might have to defer this one to you because it's Glenn.

Oh, okay. Oh, yeah.

It's 2486.

Yes. On SB 2486, the chair's decision is to defer.

Oh, good catch. Good catch. I have a fantastic vice chair. Any other catches, mistakes that I've already made? If not, we are adjourned.