HB 974 Hawaii House · 2025 Regular Session

RELATING TO ENERGY.

Summary

Requires the Department of Budget and Finance to enter into step-in agreements for payment obligations arising under certain power purchase agreements. Establishes the Power Purchase Costs Trust Fund. Establishes that money collected from on-bill charges for power purchase agreements and money received from a surcharge supporting a reserve account that are deposited in the Trust Fund shall be held in trust by the State, and that independent power producers shall hold a beneficial interest in the moneys to the extent of the amounts owed under the covered power purchase agreements. Appoints, authorizes, and empowers an electric utility to serve as the billing, collection, and payment agent of the Department of Budget and Finance in the service of performing step-in agreements. (SD1)

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Mar 2025

House Passage

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

Governor

Introduced Jan 21, 2025 Last action Apr 3, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB974_HD1 → HB974_SD1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was reformatted from a House Draft (HD1) to a Senate Draft (SD1) version, with significant text reorganization and formatting changes including the addition of metadata headers and the conversion of some sections into a more structured statutory format. The substantive policy content regarding step-in agreements, trust funds, and utility obligations remains consistent between versions, though the presentation and organization of the text have been altered.

Scope change

The bill's scope and applicability remain unchanged; it still applies to investor-owned electric utilities and independent power producers in Hawaii.

TECHNICAL

The bill text was reorganized and reformatted from a House Draft version to a Senate Draft version, with metadata headers added and some sections restructured for clarity.

Section numbering and paragraph structure were adjusted, with some text consolidated and others expanded for better readability.

The bill includes additional metadata headers and footers that were not present in the original House Draft version.

POLICY

The core policy provisions regarding step-in agreements, trust fund establishment, and utility obligations remain substantively the same between the two versions.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the House by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 25, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on WAM will hold a public decision making on 03-28-25 10:02AM; Conference Room 211 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 21, 2025

Committee

Reported from EIG/CPN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1348) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referral to WAM.

upper

Mar 20, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on EIG recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in EIG were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Wakai, Chang, DeCoite, Richards; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Fevella.

upper

Mar 20, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on CPN recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in CPN were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) Keohokalole, Richards; Aye(s) with reservations: Senator(s) Fukunaga, McKelvey ; 1 No(es): Senator(s) Awa; and 0 Excused: none.

upper

Mar 14, 2025

Upper · Passed

The committee(s) on EIG/CPN has scheduled a public hearing on 03-20-25 9:30AM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.

upper

Mar 4, 2025

Committee

Referred to EIG/CPN, WAM.

upper

Feb 28, 2025

Introduced

Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 45).

upper

Feb 27, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed Third Reading with Representative(s) Amato, Garcia voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cochran, Pierick, Templo, Ward excused (4). Transmitted to Senate.

lower

Feb 20, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on FIN recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 14 Ayes: Representative(s) Yamashita, Takenouchi, Grandinetti, Holt, Hussey, Keohokapu-Lee Loy, Kitagawa, Kusch, Lamosao, Lee, M., Miyake, Morikawa, Templo, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Alcos, Ward.

lower

Feb 14, 2025

Committee

Reported from EEP (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 769) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to FIN.

lower

Feb 13, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on EEP recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 4 Ayes: Representative(s) Lowen, Perruso, Kahaloa, Kusch; Ayes with reservations: none; 0 Noes: none; and 2 Excused: Representative(s) Quinlan, Ward.

lower

Jan 23, 2025

Committee

Referred to EEP, FIN, referral sheet 3

lower

Jan 23, 2025

Introduced

Introduced and Pass First Reading.

lower

Jan 21, 2025

Introduced

Pending introduction.

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors