The glaring
loophole in what was hailed as the nation's first
solar water heater mandate won't be closed this year. If anything, it might be getting wider.
Senate Bill 1372 proposes to shift responsibility for administering a key exemption to the law from the state to the individual counties.
A two-part Civil Beat investigation in November — Part 1 and Part 2 — revealed that more than 20 percent of new homes permitted in the first ten months of 2010 were set to install not solar-powered but gas-powered water heaters. Half the new homes on Kauai and the Big Island took advantage of the loophole.
The investigation also revealed that many of the applicants were not homeowners but developers.
Hundreds of applications were quickly approved by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The state employee in charge of reviewing applications told Civil Beat that he wasn't aware that the law intended to exclude developers.
Told about the variances, House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee Chair Hermina Morita1 — one of the lawmakers that helped shape the law — was angry.
"There are a handful of individuals who are intent in undermining the intent of the law. We tried to give as much flexibility as possible, we tried to give as much leeway as possible to some legitimate concerns," she told Civil Beat last year. "But I know it's being abused, and it looks like it's being abused by a handful of architects. And I'm not sure how to approach that problem except asking DBEDT to ensure that this isn't the architects' preference but this is the homeowners' preference."
Instead, it appears, DBEDT will be taken out of the equation altogether.
The new bill, proposed by Senate Energy and Environment Committee Chair Mike Gabbard2, would make the county planning departments responsible for approving any variance to the law. Those are the entities that are already handling building permits, so Gabbard said it will streamline the process.
"I just think that this is the way to go because it would simplify the process," he told Civil Beat Wednesday. "To me, it makes it easier for the homeowner."
To ease the burden on the counties, the bill would authorize them to impose fees to cover the cost of administering the variances. Under the existing law, the state has also been authorized to recoup its expenses through fees deposited in the energy security special fund, but did not do so. Gabbard said the program was costing the state staff time and money.
Asked if he believes the counties will be able to handle the responsibility, Gabbard said his time on the Honolulu City Council made him confident. His daughter, Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo, now serves on the City Council.
It's unclear if the counties will do a better or worse job of administering the law than the state has done. The state's energy office has as one its missions attaining the goals laid out in the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative, while the counties' planning departments have no such expectation.
In testimony opposing the bill, the Sierra Club instead suggests that the Legislature give the state's energy resources coordinator "the discretion and responsibility to review variance applications."
"This allows the coordinator to grant the variance in legitimate situations — like a infrequently-used vacation rental house — and deny developers that are simply trying to flout the intent of the law, namely to ensure
Hawaii residents obtain the cleanest and cheapest form of energy."
