The House Committee on Economic Development advanced HCR209/HR201, a concurrent resolution encouraging state actions to increase domestic production and reduce reliance on imports.

Eugene Tian, economic research administrator with the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT), provided data used to frame the committee discussion. Tian said Hawaii's gross domestic product is about $200 billion and that imports represent "about 40% of our GDP," while exports (including visitor spending) are about 26 percent, creating a trade deficit of roughly 14 points. He told members that over 90 percent of Hawaii's imports come from the U.S. mainland and that only about 7 percent are imported from foreign countries; of that foreign-import share, petroleum accounts for a large portion.

Tian described a recent reduction in Hawaii's petroleum imports from roughly $3.7 billion to $2.7 billion between 2019 and 2024 and said renewable-energy development contributed to that decline. He told the committee that most feasible import-substitution opportunities are in agriculture, food processing, and manufacturing but cautioned that Hawaii's limited land and the predominance of small businesses complicate scaling up production without government support.

Committee members adopted a set of amendments before passage. The amendments added a definition of "import substitution" to the resolution, required steps to avoid creating new import dependencies (explicitly naming fossil fuels such as LNG as an area of concern), and directed the state to "leverage monopsony powers" — noting the state's and utilities' purchasing influence — to substitute existing imports. The State Energy Office and the Public Utilities Commission were added as recipients of the resolution's requests.

Why it matters: The amendments formalize state interest in targeted import substitution and explicitly link energy policy and utility procurement to that strategy. DBEDT testimony framed the issue in macroeconomic terms and highlighted where policy and state purchasing power could be directed.

What happened next: The committee passed HCR209/HR201 with the described amendments. DBEDT and other agencies were tasked with follow-up reporting as appropriate under the resolution.