STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1460-18

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2018

RE: S.B. No. 2567

S.D. 2

H.D. 2

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health & Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2567, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CESSPOOLS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a Cesspool Upgrade Task Force within the Department of Health to consider and recommend means by which the Department of Health can ensure that cesspools on properties that are within priority upgrade areas are converted to more environmentally-responsible waste treatment systems or connected to sewer systems within fifteen years.

The County Of Hawaii Department of Environmental Management, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and several concerned individuals submitted testimony in support of this measure. Several concerned individuals submitted testimony in opposition. The Department of Health and O‘ahu Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation submitted comments.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Replacing the Cesspool Upgrade Task Force with a Cesspool Conversion Working Group which shall develop a comprehensive plan for cesspool conversion statewide by 2050 and provide an interim report to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2019 and a final report no later than twenty days prior to the 2021 legislative session;

(2) Requiring the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center to conduct a comprehensive statewide study of sewage contamination in nearshore marine areas;

(3) Appropriating funding to the Department of Health for the Cesspool Conversion Working Group and to the University of Hawaii for the comprehensive statewide study of sewage contamination in nearshore marine areas; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purpose of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health & Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2567, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2567, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health & Human Services,

____________________________

JOHN M. MIZUNO, Chair