URGING THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION TO HONOR AND COMPLY WITH ITS STATUTORY DUTY TO INVESTIGATE THE CAUSES OF THE AUGUST 2023 MAUI WILDFIRES AS REQUIRED BY SECTION 269-9, HAWAII REVISED STATUTES.

This Senate resolution urges the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission to investigate the causes of the August 2023 Maui wildfires, which resulted in over one hundred deaths and were likely started by a downed utility pole. The bill also calls on the commission to enforce existing laws requiring electric utilities to submit and implement robust wildfire mitigation plans. Additionally, it requests that the commission proactively regulate utilities to ensure safe and reliable power delivery, including implementing reliability standards and accelerating renewable energy procurement to replace aging fossil fuel plants. The resolution further asks the commission to make public information from a recent briefing regarding grid outages and to submit a report of its findings to the Legislature by March 2025.