STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2368

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2571

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 S.B. No. 2571 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WATER POLLUTION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to ban the sale, offer of sale, or distribution in the State of any SPF sunscreen protection personal care product that contains oxybenzone or octinoxate, or both, without a medically licensed prescription.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii County Councilmember Eileen O'Hara, Hawaiian Affairs Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Hawaiian Civic Club of Honolulu, Haereticus Environmental Laboratory, Hawai‘i Reef and Ocean Coalition, Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, Goddess Garden Organics, Humane Society of the United States, Americans for Democratic Action Hawai‘i, Friends of Hanauma Bay, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, Napili Bay and Beach Foundation, Maui School Garden Network, Pacific Boats & Yachts LLC, For the Fishes, West Hawaii Humane Society, Ban Toxic Sunscreens Hawai‘i, and forty-three individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Hawaii Medical Association, Hawaii Food Industry Association, American Chemistry Council, Consumer Healthcare Products Association, and Personal Care Products Council. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and Department of Health.

Your Committees find that two chemicals contained in many sunscreens, oxybenzone and octinoxate, have significant harmful impacts on Hawaii's marine environment and ecosystems, including coral reefs that protect Hawaii's shoreline. Furthermore, as the environmental contamination of oxybenzone and octinoxate is constantly refreshed and renewed daily by swimmers and beachgoers who apply sunscreens containing these two chemicals, the contamination persists in Hawaii's coastal waters. By prohibiting the sale and distribution in Hawaii of ultraviolet sun protection factor sunscreen personal care products containing oxybenzone and octinoxate without a medically licensed prescription, this measure preserves marine ecosystems, including coral reefs, in Hawaii.

Your Committees have amended this measure by 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 S.B. No. 2571, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2571, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health.

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

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair