House Bill 242, HD1, relating to electric vehicle batteries passed both committees on Tuesday after the chairs moved to adopt amendments suggested by the Department of Health and industry commenters.

The bill requires formation of a working group and sets reporting timelines for recommendations on handling lithium-ion batteries associated with electric vehicles. The Department of Health testified in support; Monique Schaeffer of the Hawaii State Energy Office asked that one working group cover all lithium-ion batteries rather than creating separate electric-vehicle-only groups.

Noah Klein of the Department of Health’s Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch said the department "stands on its testimony in support of this bill" and offered to answer questions. The Hawaii Natural Energy Institute and other industry commenters submitted suggested language changes in written testimony.

During decision making, the committees agreed to two amendments: one reflecting the Department of Health’s edit to the statutory date numbering and one adopting the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute’s requested change to the statutory reporting deadline so the report is due 29 days before the end of the 2026 session (instead of the 2025 session as drafted). Senator Chang, the chair, and the vice chair voted aye; other members present voted to adopt the recommendation and the motion was adopted.

The committees recorded the changes as technical and substantive drafting edits and passed the bill with those amendments. Staff noted the amendments in the committee record but did not identify additional appropriations or implementation steps during the hearing.