STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2322

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2583

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture, to which was referred S.B. No. 2583 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMPOSTING TOILETS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to mandate the counties to approve the installation and use of composting toilets in areas that are inaccessible to municipal water systems.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Hawaii Farmers Union United.

     Your Committees find that Act 187, Session Laws of Hawaii 2015, authorizes, but does not require, the counties to approve the installation and use of composting toilets in areas that are inaccessible to municipal wastewater systems.  In certain areas of Hawaii, geological features or the limits of existing infrastructure have made the use of conventional flush and septic systems impracticable.  The costs associated with installing septic systems is a particular burden on farms and other new rural developments.  Homeless individuals living in encampments also frequently suffer from a lack of adequate toilet facilities.  Composting toilets use no water and produce compost that can be used to enrich the soil.  Your Committees find that such toilets are an effective way to provide toilet facilities to underserved or remote populations.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2583 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Water, Land, and Agriculture,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair