SUPPORT SB1166 SD2 HD2: Hold Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable

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April 8 Update

SB1166 SD2 HD2  passed unamended out of the House Finance Committee on April 7. This measure would allow insurance companies and the Hawaiʻi Hurricane Relief Fund to pursue claims against Big Oil for climate-related disaster payouts—providing potential relief to policyholders facing skyrocketing premiums while holding fossil fuel companies accountable for the devastating impacts climate destabilization will inflict upon our islands and communities.⁠

Mahalo nui to the 79 individuals and organizations who submitted testimony in support and special thanks to ⁠Chair Todd and Vice Chair Takenouchi for passing this measure.

April 4 Update

SB1166 SD2 HD2 would allow insurance companies and the Hawaiʻi Hurricane Relief Fund to pursue claims against Big Oil for climate-related disaster payouts—providing potential relief to policyholders facing skyrocketing premiums while holding fossil fuel companies accountable for the devastating impacts climate destabilization will inflict upon our islands and communities. This measure is being heard on Tuesday, April 7 at 2pm in room 308, before the House Finance Committee (to be broadcast live on Youtube here).

Please take a moment to submit testimony and ask your friends to do the same!  And if you are able, consider testifying verbally on SB1166 SD2 HD2. Sample testimony and instructions below.

Sample Testimony for SB1166 SD2 HD2

Aloha Chair Todd, Vice Chair Takenouchi, and Members of the Committee,

My name is ______ and I STRONGLY SUPPORT SB1166 SD2 HD2.

Hawaiʻi is already experiencing the growing impacts of climate destabilization, from skyrocketing insurance premiums to increasingly severe storms and weather-related disasters. Families and communities across our islands, along with their insurance companies, are being forced to shoulder the financial burden of a crisis driven by decades of deception and cover-ups perpetrated by the fossil fuel industry. This bill accordingly seeks both financial relief for local residents, and greater fairness and accountability in our existential fight against climate destabilization.

SB1166 SD2 HD2 would allow insurers serving Hawaiʻi, including the Hawaiʻi Hurricane Relief Fund, to pursue claims against fossil fuel companies and other responsible parties for payouts arising from climate disasters. By doing so, it helps ensure that the costs of these events are not borne solely by Hawaiʻi residents and their insurance providers. This will help protect local homeowners and businesses from even higher insurance costs or losing insurance coverage altogether. It will also help Hawaiʻi insurance providers and the state do their part in the fight to hold Big Oil and other fossil fuel giants accountable for the harms they are inflicting and will continue to inflict on our communities, economy, and future generations.

Accordingly, I respectfully urge the Committee to PASS SB1166 SD2 HD2. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email).

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter “SB1166” where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information, select “SUPPORT”, write or copy/paste your testimony, and select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able!

    Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.

  5. If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4).

  6. Don’t forget to spread the word!

March 24 Update

The bill to help hold fossil fuel giants accountable for our insurance and climate crises is moving forward and needs your help! This Wednesday, March 25 at 2pm, the House Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs Committee will hear SB1166 SD2 HD1 in room 325 (watch live online here). This measure would allow insurance companies to pursue claims against Big Oil for climate-related disaster payouts—providing potential relief to policyholders facing skyrocketing premiums while holding fossil fuel companies accountable for the harms impacting our islands and communities.

Sample Testimony for SB1166 SD2 HD2

Aloha Chair Todd, Vice Chair Takenouchi, and Members of the Committee,

My name is ______ and I STRONGLY SUPPORT SB1166 SD2 HD2.

Hawaiʻi is already experiencing the growing impacts of climate destabilization, from skyrocketing insurance premiums to increasingly severe storms and weather-related disasters. Families and communities across our islands, along with their insurance companies, are being forced to shoulder the financial burden of a crisis driven by decades of deception and cover-ups perpetrated by the fossil fuel industry. This bill accordingly seeks both financial relief for local residents, and greater fairness and accountability in our existential fight against climate destabilization.

SB1166 SD2 HD2 would allow insurers serving Hawaiʻi, including the Hawaiʻi Hurricane Relief Fund, to pursue claims against fossil fuel companies and other responsible parties for payouts arising from climate disasters. By doing so, it helps ensure that the costs of these events are not borne solely by Hawaiʻi residents and their insurance providers. This will help protect local homeowners and businesses from even higher insurance costs or losing insurance coverage altogether. It will also help Hawaiʻi insurance providers and the state do their part in the fight to hold Big Oil and other fossil fuel giants accountable for the harms they are inflicting and will continue to inflict on our communities, economy, and future generations.

Accordingly, I respectfully urge the Committee to PASS SB1166 SD2 HD2. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email).

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter “SB1166” where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information, select “SUPPORT”, write or copy/paste your testimony, and select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able! 

    Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.

  5. If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4).

  6. Don’t forget to spread the word!

March 19 Update

SB1166 SD2 passed out of the House Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee on March 18. This measure would allow insurance companies to hold Big Oil accountable for climate-related disaster payouts - providing potentially significant relief to policyholders already facing skyrocketing insurance premiums, while making fossil fuel giants pay for the harms they will inflict on our islands and communities.⁠

Mahalo nui to the 74 individuals and organizations who submitted testimony in support and special thanks to Chair Matayoshi and Vice Chair Grandinetti for passing this measure.

Bill Background & Info

SB1166 SD2, a critical bill that has been “held over” and now resurrected from last session, is being heard by the House Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee on Wednesday, March 18 at 2pm in Conference Room 329 (watch online here). Please take a moment now to submit written testimony and provide verbal testimony on Wednesday if can! 

What SB1166 SD2 does:

This measure would allow insurance companies to hold Big Oil accountable for climate-related disaster payouts - providing potentially significant relief to policyholders already facing skyrocketing insurance premiums, while making fossil fuel giants pay for the harms they will inflict on our islands and communities.

Why this is important:

Hawaiʻi is drowning - literally and figuratively - in skyrocketing home insurance rates, as well as from ever-worsening sea level rise, floods, and other climate disasters that are driving this insurance crisis. Meanwhile, the perpetrators of the climate crisis continue to make trillions of dollars per year, even as they work to condemn our children, grandchildren, and generations yet unborn to a future of unprecedented devastation.

SB166 SD2 will allow Hawaiʻi to do its part in the fight against the fossil fuel companies that are drowning our islands and killing our planet, by allowing the state and insurance providers to file suit and make these corporations pay for the damage they are inflicting on our ‘āina and people. Funds recovered from these lawsuits will also help to stabilize our insurance rates, and keep insurers from leaving Hawaiʻi.

Sample Testimony for SB1166 SD2

Aloha Chair Matayoshi, Vice Chair Grandinetti, and Members of the Committee,

My name is ______ and I STRONGLY SUPPORT SB1166 SD1.

Hawaiʻi is already experiencing the growing impacts of climate destabilization, from skyrocketing insurance premiums to increasingly severe storms and weather-related disasters. Families and communities across our islands, along with their insurance companies, are being forced to shoulder the financial burden of a crisis driven by decades of deception and cover-ups perpetrated by the fossil fuel industry. This bill accordingly seeks both financial relief for local residents, and greater fairness and accountability in our existential fight against climate destabilization.

SB1166 SD1 would allow insurers serving Hawaiʻi to pursue claims against fossil fuel companies and other responsible parties for payouts arising from climate disasters. By doing so, it helps ensure that the costs of these events are not borne solely by Hawaiʻi residents and their insurance providers. This will help protect local homeowners and businesses from even higher insurance costs or losing insurance coverage altogether. It will also help Hawaiʻi insurance providers do their part in the fight to hold Big Oil and other fossil fuel giants accountable for the harms they are inflicting and will continue to inflict on our communities, economy, and future generations.

To the extent that state funds may also be used to provide alternative insurance coverage for those priced out by private providers, such as through the Hawaiʻi Hurricane Relief Fund, I respectfully but strongly urge the committee to also enable the state Attorney General to pursue claims against fossil fuel corporations for taxpayer-funded payouts arising from climate disasters.

Accordingly, I respectfully urge the Committee to PASS this measure, with the amendment described above.

Mahalo for the opportunity to testify.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter "SB1166" where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information and your written testimony, select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able!

    Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.

  5. If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4)

SUPPORT SB3000 SD1: Hold Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable

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March 5 Update

SB3000 SD1 was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee but died when the majority of Ways and Means Committee members voted it down on March 4. This measure would help stabilize skyrocketing insurance rates while holding fossil fuel corporations accountable for decades of documented deception that contributed to the climate devastation and tragedies that we, along with our children and future generations, will continue to experience.

Mahalo nui to the 82 individuals and organizations who submitted testimony in support and helped bring attention to this critical issue.

March 2 Update

Unfortunately, HB1568 didn’t get a hearing in time and is effectively dead this session. Thank you to all that submitted written testimony and showed up to the hearing! The LNG fight continues…

However, SB3000 has a hearing on Wednesday, March 4, at 10:35 a.m. in room 211 before the Senate Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees! please take a moment to submit testimony in SUPPORT of this game-changing measure.

Sample Testimony for SB3000 SD1

Aloha Chair Rhoads, Chair Dela Cruz, Vice Chair Gabbard, Vice Chair Moriwaki, and Committee Members,

My name is [your name], and I am writing in STRONG SUPPORT of SB3000 SD1.

After decades of deception and lies by the fossil fuel industry, the climate crisis it created has already severely disrupted or destroyed thousands of lives and livelihoods in our islands, and threatens to destroy countless more. To add insult to injury, even residents not yet directly impacted by climate disasters are being forced to pay skyrocketing, climate-driven insurance premiums, while oil and gas corporations continue to rake in trillions of dollars in profits every year.  

This is unacceptable. 

SB3000 SD1 would accordingly allow Hawaiʻi to do its part to fight back against the fossil fuel companies that are killing our people and our planet, authorizing the state and Hawaiʻi insurance providers to file suit and make these corporations pay for the harms they cause.  Funds recovered from these lawsuits will also help to stabilize our insurance rates, and keep insurers from leaving Hawaiʻi.  This measure is a bold but common-sense approach to make the truly responsible parties pay for the crisis we are experiencing, while providing urgently needed relief to their victims - Hawaiʻi’s people.

As we witness our children and grandchildren inherit a world and a future of unprecedented destruction, doing nothing is not an option. The legislature must act. We must act. Hawaiʻi can once again take the lead in responding to our climate crisis in a truly rational manner, while also protecting our people and future generations from its physical, cultural, and financial harms that will only worsen over time.       

Accordingly, I respectfully urge the Committees to PASS this measure. Mahalo nui for the opportunity to testify. 

Sincerely,
[your name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email).

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter "SB3000" where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information, select “SUPPORT”, write or copy/paste your testimony, and select written only. No verbal testimony will be taken for SB3000.

  5. Spread the word!

Bill Background & Info

What these bills do

SB3000 would help keep home insurance affordable and available in Hawaiʻi, by empowering the state Attorney General and Hawaiʻi insurance providers to sue major oil and gas corporations, for the harms and costs of preparing for and recovering from climate-driven disasters.

HB1568 bans the importation or storage of methane-based liquified natural gas, or “LNG,” the development of infrastructure to deliver and burn LNG, and prohibits the issuance of permits to otherwise allow LNG to become Hawaiʻi’s next fossil fuel addiction.

Why these bills are important

Hawaiʻi is drowning - literally and figuratively - in skyrocketing home insurance rates, as well as from ever-worsening sea level rise, floods, and other climate disasters that are driving this insurance crisis. Meanwhile, the perpetrators of the climate crisis continue to make trillions of dollars per year, even as they work to condemn our children, grandchildren, and generations yet unborn to a future of unprecedented devastation.

SB3000 will allow Hawaiʻi to do its part in the fight against the fossil fuel companies that are drowning our islands and killing our planet, by allowing the state and insurance providers to file suit and make these corporations pay for the damage they are inflicting on our ‘āina and people.  Funds recovered from these lawsuits will also help to stabilize our insurance rates, and keep insurers from leaving Hawaiʻi.  

Meanwhile, HB1568 would put the brakes on the Governor’s proposal to lock us into an indefinite dependency on fossil fuel giant JERA, and its planet-killing methane-based LNG.  Cost overruns alone for the $2 billion LNG infrastructure investment could leave HECO customers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars or more; maintenance issues, human error, or a hurricane, earthquake, or fire - as seen as recently as this Tuesday - would make matters even worse. However, the true costs of the JERA-Hawaiʻi proposal -  by embracing LNG and marketing this fossil fuel to nations across Oceania - would be immeasurable.  The blanket LNG prohibition in this bill may be the only way to ensure that Hawaiʻi does not help a fossil fuel corporation lead us down a path of existential destruction.

Sample testimony for SB3000

Aloha Chair Keohokālole, Vice Chair Fukunaga, and members of the Committee,

My name is ______ and I STRONGLY SUPPORT SB3000. 

After decades of deception and lies by the fossil fuel industry, the climate crisis they’ve created has already severely disrupted or destroyed thousands of lives and livelihoods in our islands, and threatens to destroy countless more. To add insult to injury, even residents not yet directly impacted by climate disasters are being forced to pay skyrocketing, climate-driven insurance premiums, while oil and gas corporations continue to rake in trillions of dollars in profits every year.  

This is unacceptable. 

SB3000 would accordingly allow Hawaiʻi to do its part to fight back against the fossil fuel companies that are killing our people and our planet, authorizing the state and insurance providers to file suit and make these corporations pay for the harms they cause.  Funds recovered from these lawsuits will also help to stabilize our insurance rates, and keep insurers from leaving Hawaiʻi.  This measure is a bold but common-sense approach to make the truly responsible parties pay for the crisis we are experiencing, while providing urgently needed relief to their victims - Hawaiʻi’s people.

As we witness our children and grandchildren inherit a world and a future of unprecedented destruction, doing nothing is not an option. The legislature must act. We must act. Hawaiʻi can once again take the lead in responding to our climate crisis in a truly rational manner, while also protecting our people and future generations from its physical, spiritual, and financial harms that will only worsen over time.       

Accordingly, I respectfully urge the Committee to PASS this measure. Mahalo nui for the opportunity to testify. 

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Sample testimony for HB1568:

Aloha Chair Lowen, Vice Chair Perruso, and Members of the Committee,

My name is ______ and I STRONGLY SUPPORT HB1568.  

Climate experts agree: with a global warming potential 80 times higher than carbon dioxide, and with a lifecycle climate impact worse than coal, we must significantly cut down our use of methane as an energy source by the end of the decade. Doing so may be the best and only way to buy us desperately needed time, before the climate crisis spirals beyond our control.

Despite this, the Hawaiʻi State Energy Office has put forward a short-sighted proposal for Hawaiʻi to embrace methane, or liquified natural gas (LNG), as a “temporary” “bridge” fuel, with no specific strategy to transition to a renewable alternative by 2045.  To make matters worse, the Governor has signed a “Strategic Partnering Agreement” with fossil fuel giant JERA, to force Oʻahu’s HECO customers to invest in this planet-destroying corporation through their electrical bills - and with the vision of using Hawaiʻi to market LNG to other Pacific nations.  In other words, Hawaiʻi is poised to lead Oceania in accelerating the end of humanity, and humankind as we know it.  

This measure may be the only way to ensure the Governor and Hawaiʻi State Energy Office cease and desist in their efforts to bring LNG to Hawaiʻi, and to other places far beyond our shores.  

To be clear, cost overruns alone for the proposed $2B LNG infrastructure investment could leave HECO customers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars or more; maintenance issues, human error, or a hurricane, earthquake, or fire - like we’ve seen as recently as this past Tuesday - would make the financial consequences even worse. 

However, the true costs of the current Hawaiʻi-JERA proposal - to have us embrace LNG, and market this fossil fuel to nations far and wide - would be immeasurable. 

This bill may be the only way to ensure that Hawaiʻi does not help a fossil fuel corporation lead us down a path of existential destruction – a path that may condemn our children and grandchildren to a future of unthinkable devastation. 

Accordingly, I respectfully but strongly urge the Committee to PASS this measure.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

Testimony instructions

  1. Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)

  2. Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.

  3. Enter "SB3000" or “HB1568” where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."

  4. Input your information and your written testimony, select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able! 

    Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.

  5. If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4)