STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2427

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2337

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Government Operations, Agriculture and Environment, and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2337 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WASTE MANAGEMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require that all state and county agency contractors that dispose of liquid or solid waste to provide a receipt that the waste was received and disposed of at a licensed facility before full payment is made for those contractual services;

(2) Allow for partial payment to be made to all state and county agency contractors that dispose of liquid or solid waste without a receipt and prior to any dumping of waste; and

(3) Prohibit alteration or falsification of receipts by all state and county agency contractors that dispose of liquid or solid waste.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu; Kokua Hawaii Foundation; Ho‘omana Pono, LLC; League of Women Voters of Hawai‘i; and four individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the General Contractors Association of Hawaii and one individual.

Your Committees find that construction projects funded by public monies produce a huge amount of construction waste. Existing law prohibits the disposal of more than one cubic yard of solid waste anywhere other than a permitted solid waste management system, with certain exceptions. Despite this prohibition, your Committees find that construction waste is sometimes disposed at sites other than licensed waste management facilities and other permitted solid waste management systems. Further, your Committees find that unpermitted dumps are often difficult to detect. Therefore, your Committees find that the statement for services performed in a public works contract should include a receipt from a licensed waste management facility showing that the waste was properly received and lawfully disposed of in an appropriate, licensed waste facility before full payment is made.

However, your Committees note a variety of concerns raised during testimony. Your Committees acknowledge the difficulty in catching those who engage in illegal dumping and that further discussion is needed to determine enforcement mechanisms that might help prevent illegal dumping. In addition, your Committees acknowledge the need for the appropriate departments and agencies to work with the construction industry to find ways to reduce the overall amount of waste being dumped and to find ways to conserve more used materials as opposed to dumping them. Your Committees suggest that if your Committee on Ways and Means decides to hear this measure, that your Committee on Ways and Means investigate these issues further.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations, 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 S.B. No. 2337 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 Government Operations, Agriculture and Environment, and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair	________________________________ DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair
	________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair