STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1070

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 146

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Education and Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 146 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING A STUDY OF THE AVERAGE AMOUNT OF WASTE PRODUCED AT HAWAII'S PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS AND ESTABLISHMENT OF A PILOT PROGRAM TO REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF WASTE PRODUCED IN ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Education to, among other things:

     (1)  Conduct a study to assess the average amount of waste produced in Hawaii's high schools; and

     (2)  Create a pilot program to reduce the amount of waste produced in all public schools by forty percent by 2025.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from four individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Education. 

     Your Committees find that as space in Hawaii's landfills becomes scarce, there is an increased need to reduce the amount of solid waste produced in Hawaii's public schools. 

     Your Committees note that testimony from of the Department of Education described waste reduction studies that have been conducted by the University of Hawaii's Sustainable Saunders Group at Keoneula Elementary School and another at Kalani High School, which is currently in progress.  In addition, the Department is in the process of applying for grants to conduct a food waste diversion analysis of a middle school.  The Department plans to use the results of these studies to develop an overall strategy to reduce waste in public schools that is ecologically and economically feasible. 

     Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Removing the language requesting the Department of Education to conduct a study on the average amount of waste produced at Hawaii's public schools;

     (2)  Removing the language requesting the Department of Education to create a pilot project to reduce the amount of waste produced in all public schools by forty percent by 2025;

     (3)  Adding language requesting the Department of Education to:

          (A)  Compile and summarize the results of all studies on waste reduction in Hawaii's public schools; and

          (B)  Propose strategies, goals, and benchmarks for waste reduction in Hawaii's public schools;

     (4)  Amending its title to accurately reflect its amended purpose; and

     (5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Energy and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 146, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 146, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Education and Energy and Environment,

____________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

____________________________ JILL TOKUDA, Chair