Hawaii-2020-SB2628-Introduced

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Hawai‘i currently has over one million gasoline-powered vehicles on its roads, which emit nearly five million metric tons of climate-changing carbon pollution annually. Some of these vehicles are used by state and county government employees in the performance of their duties.

Electric vehicles will play an integral role in Hawai‘i's clean energy future and in meeting the goals set for the State in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, particularly as electrical generation in Hawai‘i transitions more completely to renewable energy sources. Moreover, that transition to renewable energy sources for electricity will reduce costs of electric vehicle transportation below those for gasoline-powered vehicles. Finally, electric vehicles benefit air quality by eliminating the tailpipe emissions from combustion of gasoline or diesel fuel.

Therefore, the legislature finds it beneficial to Hawai‘i that government employees rent electric vehicles for those occasions when a vehicle must be rented for conducting government business. To this end, the legislature further finds that state procurement policy for contracts with car rental companies should be revised to place priority on having a larger pool of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles available to rent for government business.

SECTION 2. Chapter 103D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding three new sections to part X to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§103D-A Definitions. As used in this subpart, the following terms have the following meanings, unless the context indicates a different meaning or intent:

"Available" means, that the vehicle is physically present and not rented prior to the requested rental.

"Conventional vehicle" means a vehicle powered solely by an internal combustion engine.

"Electric vehicle" means a vehicle powered by an electric motor via electricity: (i) stored in a high capacity battery or (ii) generated from an onboard fuel cell.

"Hybrid vehicle" means a vehicle powered by a combination of an electric motor and a small internal combustion engine.

"Procurement office" means the Hawaii State procurement office.

"Rental contractor" means an entity that rents, or proposes to rent, vehicles to state or local employees of the State or its counties under a contract established through this section. Rent or rental shall include any variation of the term "lease" for the purposes of this part.

"State employee" means an employee of the State or a county, including all permanent and temporary employees of:

(1) The state judicial, executive, and legislative branches and their respective departments, offices and agencies, the state executive branch and its departments or agencies; and

(2) The county governments and their departments, agencies and offices.

"Suitable" means the vehicle has the performance capabilities needed for the intended application, which include, but are not limited to, payload and weight capacity for the job, or capable of holding a charge for the time and mileage needed.

§103D-B Preference for the rental of electric or hybrid vehicles. (a) State employees who need to rent a vehicle in the discharge of official business shall rent a vehicle of one of the following types, listed in order of preference:

(1) Electric vehicle; or

(2) Hybrid vehicle;

unless such a vehicle is not suitable for the specific travel requirements or is not available at the time needed.

(b) The employee may rent a conventional vehicle only if:

(1) An electric or hybrid vehicle is not suitable, based on the task or mileage requirements of the intended trip; or

(2) Neither an electric nor a hybrid vehicle is available.

(c) An employee may exercise the policy preference for rental of an electric or hybrid vehicle notwithstanding that there may be a higher cost associated with renting an electric or hybrid vehicle, so long as the cost premium is consistent with any budgetary constraints, and not contradicted by an existing state contract with the rental business entity from which the vehicle is rented.

(d) A state employee shall rent a vehicle, when needed for the conducting of official business, from a rental business entity that has a current contract with the State pursuant to 103D-C, unless not possible under the circumstances of a specific vehicle rental event.

§103D-C State procurement of vehicle rental contracts; electric and hybrid vehicle preference. (a) The procurement office shall execute preferred contract terms for future contracts with prospective rental contractors that will implement new state policy prioritizing the rental of electric vehicles for use by state and county employees while on official government business. This guidance shall apply to all vehicle rental contracts for which invitations to bid are issued after the effective date of this section.

(b) All invitations to bid for vehicle rental contracts described in subsection (a) shall inform prospective bidders that:

(1) The State intends to place highest priority on the rental of electric vehicles and secondary priority on rental of hybrid vehicles for state and county employee use, with the exception of specialized uses for which electric vehicles are not yet available and suitable as of the date of a bid invitation; and

(2) Bids made in response to an invitation should provide for contract terms consistent with the criteria specified in subsection (c).

(c) Contractual terms for future contracts for rental of vehicles for use by state and county employees shall be consistent with the following criteria:

(1) The contract shall contain an acknowledgement by the rental contractor of the State's priority of renting electric vehicles wherever feasible; and

(2) The rental contractor shall have, on average, as determined on a monthly basis, a sufficient number of electric vehicles available and suitable for use within the rental contractor's service area to meet the following percentages of daily demand for vehicle rentals by state and county employees for official government business:

(A) For contracts executed in 2020 and 2021, twenty per cent of daily demand for rental vehicles;

(B) For contracts executed in 2023, 2024, and 2025, thirty-three per cent of daily demand for rentals;

(D) For contracts executed in 2029 through 2034, seventy-five per cent of daily demand for rental vehicles; and

(E) For contracts executed in 2035 and subsequent years, ninety per cent of daily demand for rental vehicles.

(3) The cost premium for rental of an electric vehicle, where available and suitable for use, does not exceed twenty-five per cent of the rental fee for a comparable conventional vehicle.

(d) The procurement office shall employ its best efforts to negotiate and finalize contracts for rental of vehicles for official government business that are consistent with the contractual criteria specified in subsection 103D-C(c).

(e) Notwithstanding the requirements of subsections (c) and (d) of this section, the procurement office shall have discretion to accept a contract from a prospective rental contractor who fails to meet the minimum vehicle availability and cost premium criteria of subsection (c) if:

(1) No acceptable bidder on the relevant invitation to bid submitted proposed contract terms compliant with the criteria of subsection (c);

(2) The prospective rental contractor demonstrates an inability to acquire a sufficient number of electric vehicles to satisfy the vehicle availability criterion of subsection (c) due to the demand for such vehicles exceeding the production output by vehicle manufacturers or another compelling justification; and

(3) The cost premium for electric vehicles does not exceed fifty percent of the rental fee for a comparable conventional vehicle and does not exceed the budgeted amount for vehicle rental.

(f) The procurement office has discretion to enter into a vehicle rental contract, notwithstanding the inability of the prospective rental contractor to meet the vehicle availability criteria or the cost premium criterion of subsections (c) or (e), if the criteria of either subsection (c) or (e), as applicable, can be met with a combination of electric and hybrid vehicles."

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2020.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2628
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII