STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3111

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2107

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 2107, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish the plastic pollution initiative program with the mission to eliminate plastic waste impacting native species and polluting the State's environment;

(2) Establish the plastic pollution advisory council to collect data regarding plastic pollution and provide recommendations to eliminate plastic waste; and

(3) Appropriate funds to establish the plastic pollution initiative program and allow the plastic pollution advisory council to conduct an initial analysis of the baseline cost of plastic pollution to Hawaii's taxpayers and environment.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, Keiko Conservation, and eleven individuals.

Your Committees find that plastics have become a significant threat to Hawaii's environment, ecosystems, and beaches, on which the State's economy, culture, and native species rely. Plastic litter and debris can be increasingly found on every island and in every watershed and protected area from the remote Kalalau Valley on Kauai to Kilauea Caldera on Hawaii island. Hawaii's forests, streams, and beaches are strewn with plastic debris, including micro plastic debris smaller than grains of sand, which are consumed by the smallest of endangered birds to the humpback whale.

Your Committees further find that cleaning up plastic is a significant cost to Hawaii taxpayers. The cost of increasing cleanups by government agencies, businesses, and the general public is rising to account for expensive best management practices and mitigation. By establishing a long-term plan to eliminate plastic pollution in Hawaii's environment and reduce cleanup costs to taxpayers through the establishment of an advisory council, this measure provides a mechanism to reduce costs to taxpayers and protect Hawaii's environment from plastic inundation.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Adopting the language suggested by the Department of Land and Natural Resources that changes the name of the "plastic pollution initiative program" to the "plastic pollution initiative" to avoid confusion with other programs of the Department and making conforming amendments accordingly;

(2) Adding a representative of the business community, to be selected by the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, to the plastic pollution advisory council;

(3) Inserting an appropriation amount of $150,000 to establish the plastic pollution initiative and allow the plastic pollution advisory council to conduct a baseline study; and

(4) 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 Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2107, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2107, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water and Land and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair