STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3081

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2626

H.D. 1

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 Agriculture and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2626, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CESSPOOLS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of Health to hire a third-party consultant to conduct a study on the issues relating to the upgrade or conversion of cesspools; and

(2) Establish the cesspool conversion working group to assist the third-party consultant on the study.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, Office of the Mayor of the County of Hawaii, City and County of Honolulu Department of Environmental Services, County of Hawaii Department of Environmental Management, Coral Reef Alliance, ILWU Local 142, Surfrider Foundation Oahu Chapter, O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and fourteen individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from Envirocycle Cesspool Replacements.

Your Committees find that Hawaii has 88,000 cesspools that deposit approximately 53,000,000 gallons of raw sewage directly into the groundwater every day. Drinking water, public recreation, and the precious coral reefs, on which Hawaii's economy, shoreline, recreation, fisheries, and native species depend, are or may be harmed by such pollution. Your Committees further find that costs, terrain, and other geologic and geographic factors complicate the upgrading or conversion of cesspools in many areas of the State.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Extending the deadline for the Department of Health to submit the study to the Legislature from December 31, 2019, to December 31, 2020; and

(2) 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 Agriculture and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2626, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2626, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair