STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2329

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2473

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Higher Education and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2473 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AIR QUALITY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the University of Hawaii at Manoa to establish and operate a dispersion modeling center within the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology in order to improve vog forecasts for the State.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, University of Hawaii Vog Measurement and Prediction Project, University of Hawaii System, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii Department of Atmospheric Sciences, International Volcanic Health Hazard Network, American Lung Association of Hawaii, and seventeen individuals.

     Your Committee finds that vog presents a significant health hazard in Hawaii and has been shown to negatively impact the State's agricultural industry.  Vog is primarily caused by the fine particulate matter emitted by Kilauea volcano.  Your Committee finds that the only source of information about many of Kilauea volcano's emissions is the vog model operated by the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Your Committee further finds that the State and National Weather Service rely on the University's vog model for guidance when issuing vog forecasts.  Additionally, the Department of Health utilizes information from the University's vog model to alert residents about vog levels and predict air quality conditions to make no-burn decisions.  For people who suffer from allergies, emphysema, or asthma, the vog model helps them plan their activities to minimize exposure to the emissions in the air.  Your Committee notes that the amount of $150,000 being requested to support and enhance the University of Hawaii's Vog Measurement and Prediction Project model will be used to continue program operations and oversight so that Hawaii residents, meteorologists, health care providers, emergency management personnel, and the agricultural industry all have access to beneficial and accurate information about vog levels and air quality.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2473, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2473, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Higher Education and the Arts,

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair