STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2407

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2993
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and
Labor and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2993
entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to address problems related
to the use and unplanned emission of chemicals and toxins in the
State by creating an Environmental Health Consumer Advocate
position with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

     In addition, the measure establishes an environmental
protection hotline in the Hazard Evaluation and Emergency
Response Office, requires housing developers building on former
agricultural lands to conduct soil testing, dedicates moneys from
the environmental response revolving fund to fund the
environmental consumer advocate and its operations, and requires
the Department of Health to convene a Campbell Industrial Park
study group to study issues related to toxic emissions and
spills. 

     Testimony was received from the Department of Commerce and
Consumer Affairs (DCCA), Department of Health (DOH), Hawaiian
Electric Company, Inc., Tesoro Hawaii, Life of the Land, Citizens
for a Safe Environment, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, and the Hawaii
Agriculture Research Center.


 
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     Your Committees find that the presence of chemicals and
toxins in the State's water systems, soil, and air as a result of
unplanned emissions and spills and pesticide usage on former
agricultural lands pose a threat to the health and safety of the
State's residents, and warrant the creation of an consumer
advocate for environmental issues.  The position of Environmental
Health Consumer Advocate should be independent of the Department
of Health, which in the past has minimized and failed to respond
satisfactorily to community concerns about toxins in their water
and soil and higher than average instances of illness and disease
among residents living on former agricultural lands.  

     It is your Committees' intent that, in addition to the
duties enumerated in this measure, the Environmental Health
Consumer Advocate's duties include setting up a review process to
evaluate the results of the soil testing in Village Park and West
Loch Fairways, that includes the participation of residents of
the affected communities.

     Upon further consideration, your Committees have amended
this measure to:

     (1)  Establish the environmental protection hotline in the
          Department of Health and require that information
          reported to the hotline be transmitted to the
          Environmental Health Consumer Advocate;

     (2)  Require that the department of health:

          (A)  Conduct further study and research when legal
               levels of toxins are exceeded; 

          (B)  Identify communities with below average water
               quality, develop and implement recommendations to
               improve water quality in these communities, and
               report to the 2001 legislature; and

          (C)  Conduct a follow-up study of the Village Park and
               West Loch Fairways composite soil sampling that
               involves individual testing of homes to identify
               and measure toxins present in specific residences,
               and with the assistance of the Citizens for a Safe
               Environment and Life of the Land, report its
               findings and recommendations to the 2001
               legislature;
 
     (3)  Clarify that the soil testing requirement applies to
          new housing developments of ten or more residential

 
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          homes, and that testing be done pursuant to protocols
          developed by DOH;

     (4)  Require that soil testing be performed before receiving
          zoning or other permitting approval;

     (5)  Redesignate the Campbell Industrial Park study group as
          the Campbell Industrial Park task force;

     (6)  Expand the scope of the task force's study on unplanned
          releases of toxic emissions and spills to cover a
          ten-year period and to address the effectiveness of
          laws and regulations regarding unplanned releases;

     (7)  Require the task force to study the need for a
          requirement that facilities handling or dealing in
          chemicals, gasoline, wastes, and other potentially
          toxic substances fill a spill prevention plan with the
          Department of Health;

     (8)  Restructure the makeup of the task force by deleting
          the Department of Business, Economic Development, and
          Tourism, and adding the Hawaii State Emergency Response
          Commission, local emergency planning committees, a
          member of the Honolulu city council, and a
          representative from the Honolulu Fire Department Hazmat
          Unit;

     (9)  Appropriate funds to the DOH to conduct the Campbell
          Industrial Park task force study; and

     (10) Make technical, nonsubstantive amendments to provide
          clarification and reflect preferred drafting style.  

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Labor and
Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are
in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2993, as
amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the
form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2993, S.D. 1, and be referred to
the Committee on Ways and Means.


 
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Commerce and
                                   Consumer Protection and Labor
                                   and Environment,



____________________________       ______________________________
BOB NAKATA, Chair                  BRIAN KANNO, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Co-Chair

 
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