STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3106

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.R. No. 95
                                        




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

Sir:

     Your Committees on Labor and Environment and Health and
Human Services, to which was referred S.R. No. 95 entitled:

     "SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO
     CONDUCT FOLLOW-UP SOIL TESTS AT VILLAGE PARK AND WEST LOCH
     FAIRWAYS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to request the Department of
Health (DOH) to conduct follow-up soil tests at Village Park and
West Loch Fairways.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this
measure from the Life of the Land.  Testimony in opposition was
received from the DOH.

     This measure is intended to continue the efforts of the DOH
to ascertain the nature and extent, if any, of harmful chemicals
in the soil at Village Park and West Loch Fairways communities on
Oahu.  Your Committees note that the DOH has issued a report
indicating that the soil was safe.  However, the report also
indicated disturbing information about inordinate concentrations
of harmful chemicals in certain home sites.  This measure is
intended as a precautionary procedure to revisit those sites for
further testing and recommendations.

     Your Committees are particularly concerned about whether the
affected property owners truly understood the results and their
options from the first testing of their soil.  The DOH testified

 
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that it had informed the owners by letter, however, your
Committees are concerned that the owners may not have understood
the letter and may have been afraid to ask for follow-up testing
when they realized that they may be liable for any clean-up.
Your Committees request the DOH to inform the owners of the
follow-up test results in a clear, plain, simple, and
understandable manner.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Labor and Environment and Health and Human Services
that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the
intent and purpose of S.R. No. 95, and recommend that it be
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Labor and
                                   Environment and Health and
                                   Human Services,



____________________________       ______________________________
SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair        BOB NAKATA, Chair

 
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