The nation’s top fossil fuel lobbying group helped kill a potentially groundbreaking bill in Hawaii to hold the industry accountable for hikes in property insurance costs, the bill sponsor told POLITICO’s E&E News.
A measure aimed at making fossil fuel companies pay for insurance rate hikes in Hawaii after climate-related disasters died in a legislative committee under opposition from the American Petroleum Institute.
“It’s no secret that API aggressively lobbied to kill this bill,” state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole (D) said, referring to the institute. He and other legislators had met with API officials about the institute’s objections.
Keohokalole said he was “shocked” when his bill failed on a 9-4 vote Wednesday in the Senate’s powerful Ways and Means Committee, where Democrats hold 12 of the 13 seats and the committee chair recommended passage.
