REQUESTING THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION TO MAKE CERTAIN JUDGMENTS, CONSIDERATIONS, AND DECISIONS WHEN MAKING ANY DETERMINATION RELATING TO A GENERATIONAL ENERGY COMMITMENT FOR THE STATE.
This Senate Concurrent Resolution requests the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission to impose specific conditions before approving any liquefied natural gas-related costs for utilities. The bill requires that all LNG infrastructure costs be fully paid off by 2045, eliminates take-or-pay fuel contracts, prevents rate increases for Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui counties, and mandates utilities share fuel price volatility with customers. Additionally, the resolution asks the commission to deny LNG costs if cheaper renewable alternatives exist or if the agreement would lock utilities into purchasing more gas than needed for renewable energy operations. This measure directly affects Hawaiian Electric and other utilities by setting stricter financial and environmental criteria for approving natural gas projects.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2026
Committee Review
Apr 2026
Senate Passage
May 2026
House Passage
Apr 2026
Signed into Law
May 2026
Introduced Mar 16, 2026
Signed May 8, 2026
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons
What changed between versions
SCR166_HD1
→
SCR166_SD1
·
3 edits
MINOR
The bill's title and metadata were updated to reflect its new status as a Senate Draft (SD1) instead of a House Draft (HD1), along with changes to author names and dates. Substantively, the text was reorganized to improve readability by breaking up long paragraphs. A critical change occurred in the 'Resolved' section, where the language requesting the Public Utilities Commission to 'evaluate' proposals involving liquefied natural gas was altered to 'devalue' such proposals, significantly shifting the commission's required stance from neutral assessment to active discouragement.
Scope change
The bill's scope regarding the Public Utilities Commission's duties was modified to require them to actively 'devalue' proposals involving liquefied natural gas rather than simply evaluating them, while the overall applicability to renewable energy commitments remains the same.
REQUIREMENT
The requirement for the Public Utilities Commission was changed from 'evaluate' proposals involving liquefied natural gas to 'devalue' them, altering the commission's mandated approach to fossil fuel infrastructure proposals.
TECHNICAL
The bill's title, author names, and associated dates were updated to reflect the transition from a House Draft to a Senate Draft version.
Long paragraphs in the 'Whereas' clauses were split into shorter lines to improve formatting and readability without changing the underlying policy arguments.
Floor votes
How they voted
This bill passed the Senate by voice vote (no roll call recorded).
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
28
Key actions
10
Committee
9
Amendments
2
May 8, 2026
Upper · Passed
Resolution adopted in final form.
upper
May 8, 2026
Introduced
Senate agrees with House amendments.
upper
Apr 27, 2026
Amended
Senate disagrees with House amendments.
upper
Apr 27, 2026
Introduced
Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 835).
upper
Apr 24, 2026
Lower · Passed
Adopted as amended in HD 1 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Kapela excused (1).
lower
Apr 24, 2026
Lower · Passed
Reported from CPC (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2246-26) as amended in HD 1, recommending adoption.
lower
Apr 22, 2026
Lower · Passed
The committee on CPC recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 11 Ayes: Representative(s) Matayoshi, Grandinetti, Chun, Ilagan, Ichiyama, Iwamoto, Kong, Lowen, Marten, Tam, Pierick; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and Excused: none.
lower
Apr 20, 2026
Lower · Passed
Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on CPC with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Alcos, Cochran, Woodson excused (3).
lower
Apr 20, 2026
Committee
Reported from EEP (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 2219-26), recommending referral to CPC.
lower
Apr 17, 2026
Lower · Passed
The committee on EEP recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 6 Ayes: Representative(s) Lowen, Perruso, Chun, Kahaloa, Kusch, Matsumoto; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Quinlan.
lower
Apr 10, 2026
Committee
Referred to EEP, CPC, referral sheet 28
lower
Apr 9, 2026
Introduced
Received from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 495) in amended form (SD 1).
lower
Apr 9, 2026
Upper · Passed
Report and Resolution Adopted, as amended (SD 1). Transmitted to House.
upper
Apr 8, 2026
Upper · Passed
Reported from CPN (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 3522) with recommendation of adoption, as amended (SD 1).
upper
Apr 2, 2026
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, Fukunaga, McKelvey, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Lamosao.
upper
Mar 20, 2026
Upper · Passed
The committee(s) on CPN has scheduled a public hearing on 03-25-26 10:01AM; Conference Room 229 & Videoconference.
upper
Mar 19, 2026
Committee
Referred to CPN.
upper
Mar 16, 2026
Introduced
Offered.
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Chris Lee
DDemocratic
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