RELATING TO ENERGY.

Establishes a mandatory $1 billion initial contribution from investor-owned utilities to the wildfire liability trust fund, plus an additional $500 million for administrative salaries.

Requires the Public Utilities Commission to contract for a Hawaii electricity reliability administrator and mandate payment of a new Hawaii electricity reliability surcharge.

Adds new definitions including 'Administrator,' 'Contributor,' 'Covered catastrophic wildfire,' and 'Executive director' to establish the trust fund framework.

Changes the effective date from the original proposal to May 13, 2040, providing a delayed implementation timeline.

Expands civil service exemptions to include the advisor of the wildfire liability trust fund and various energy-related positions in state agencies.

Establishes rules for claim processing, liability limits, and procedures for contributors to receive payments from the fund after exhausting insurance coverage.

Establishes a mandatory Wildfire Recovery Fund with $1 billion in initial contributions from investor-owned utilities (recoverable from customers) plus $500 million funded by shareholders.

Requires the Public Utilities Commission to contract for a Hawaii Electricity Reliability Administrator to collect and administer funds for independent power producers.

Creates a claims process where qualified claimants must submit claims to the fund before suing contributors, with aggregate liability limits of $500 million or calculated based on property values.

Establishes that contributors must replenish the fund if the commission finds their imprudent conduct caused or contributed to a wildfire, with limits of 20% of their transmission and distribution equity rate base over three years.

Adds new definitions for 'catastrophic wildfire,' 'covered catastrophic wildfire,' 'contributor,' 'qualified claimant,' and 'wildfire risk mitigation plan.'

Sets eligibility requirements for utilities to participate in the fund, including having an approved wildfire risk mitigation plan and notifying the executive director of participation.

Amends existing statutes to require mandatory payment of the Hawaii electricity reliability surcharge and expands the administrator's powers to ensure timely payments to independent power producers.

Establishes a new Wildfire Recovery Fund with $1 billion in initial contributions from investor-owned utilities ($1 billion from customers plus $500 million from shareholders).

Changes the aggregate liability cap from $1 billion to $500 million, with additional amounts calculated based on property values destroyed in wildfires.

Mandates the Public Utilities Commission to contract for a Hawaii Electricity Reliability Administrator rather than having the option to do so.

Requires all electricity users, businesses, and entities connecting to the Hawaii electric system to pay a mandatory Hawaii Electricity Reliability Surcharge.

Changes the Public Utilities Commission's authority regarding power purchase agreements from permissive ('may') to mandatory ('shall') for nonfossil fuel sources.

Requires the Hawaii Electricity Reliability Administrator to maintain staffing with appropriate independence from electric utilities to fairly review interconnection matters.

Adds new definitions for 'Catastrophic wildfire' (destroying more than 500 structures), 'Contributor', 'Covered catastrophic wildfire', and 'Wildfire risk mitigation capital expenditures'.

Creates a new claims process where qualified claimants must submit claims to the fund before suing contributors, and contributors must exhaust insurance before seeking fund payments.

Establishes eligibility criteria for contributors including having an approved wildfire risk mitigation plan and notifying the executive director of intent to participate.

Sets the effective date of the Act to May 13, 2040, and requires annual reports to the legislature through 2034 with a final financial status report by 2035.

Electric cooperatives can now recover wildfire mitigation, repair, and restoration costs through automatic rate adjustments or other tariff mechanisms.

Establishes a new securitization chapter allowing electric utilities to issue bonds backed by infrastructure resilience charges to finance wildfire risk mitigation and infrastructure improvements.

Changed liability cap calculation from a fixed $1 billion plus assessed value formula to include three options: $1 billion, average assessed value of destroyed structures, or aggregate assessed replacement value of structures in the county.

Defines 'catastrophic wildfire' as destroying more than 500 commercial or residential structures, and 'covered catastrophic wildfire' as one potentially caused or worsened by utility facilities or actions.

Abolishes joint and several liability for qualifying wildfire damages and requires all related civil actions to be consolidated in the circuit court where the wildfire occurred.

Establishes a working group to study a wildfire recovery fund that must submit recommendations to the legislature by July 2026 and ceases operations on July 1, 2026.

Creates irrevocable infrastructure resilience charges that cannot be altered by the state, and requires utilities to maintain approved wildfire risk mitigation plans for five consecutive years before executive compensation increases.

Added a new Chapter on Securitization that authorizes public utilities to issue bonds to recover infrastructure resilience costs, with a maximum financing order limit of $500,000,000 per order.

Created new definitions for key terms including 'Infrastructure resilience property', 'Financing entity', 'Ancillary agreement', and 'Fixed recovery tax amounts' to support the securitization framework.

Established security interest provisions that allow bondholders to claim infrastructure resilience property revenues and provide mechanisms for sequestration of funds upon default.

Changed the liability limit section to specify that aggregate liability for qualifying damages shall not exceed the lesser of $1 billion or the assessed value of destroyed structures plus personal property lost.

Added requirements that utilities must have five consecutive years of approved wildfire risk mitigation plan compliance before increasing executive officer compensation.

Set the effective date of the Act to July 1, 3000, which appears to be a placeholder date that may need correction.

Document structure changed from traditional legislative format to database metadata format with fields for bill numbers, dates, and technical identifiers.

Added metadata fields including bill numbers (SB897 CD1), timestamps, document IDs, and version control information.

Removed traditional legislative header formatting including Senate chamber information and original bill introduction text.

Added digital document control information including revision numbers, document paths, and processing timestamps.