THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

235

THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that as the counties with the State continue to comply with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines for discharge of treated wastewater to public waterways, nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous compounds are of particular concern.  Recent court rulings banning disposal of treated municipal wastewater into injection wells within Maui county stress the importance of reducing nutrients in effluents discharged into rivers, coastal waters, and streams.  Studies dating back to 1983, such as the United States EPA "Ecological Impacts of Sewage Discharge on Coral Reef Communities", document the ill effects of phosphates and nitrogen contained in treated wastewater effluents on reefs and corals.  Cited in this document are damaging effects to Kaneohe bay outfall where coral reef ecologies suffered from discharge of treated sewage effluent containing nitrogen and phosphorus.  Current treatment facilities and those yet to be upgraded in the coming decades must incorporate treatment methodologies that reduce nutrients as required by EPA guidelines.

The purpose of this measure is to protect the State's ocean, reef, and coral ecologies as well as the health of the general public by appropriating funds for:

     (1)  The department of health's environmental management program (HTH840); and

     (2)  The establishment of fourteen full-time equivalent sanitarian permanent positions for improved food safety.

     SECTION 2.  The following sums, or so much thereof as may be sufficient to accomplish the purposes and programs designated herein, are hereby appropriated or authorized, as the case may be, from the means of financing specified to the department of health for the fiscal biennium beginning July 1, 2019, and ending June 30, 2021.  The total expenditures and the number of positions in each fiscal year of the biennium shall not exceed the sums and the position ceilings indicated for each fiscal year, except as provided elsewhere in this Act or as provided by general law.

EEP - ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

 

1.   HTH840 – ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

                                                   8.0*          11.0*

OPERATING                         HTH          171,534A       375,764A

                                  HTH          200,000W       200,000W

                                  HTH        3,905,930N   (4,536,030)N

                                  HTH        3,138,163P     (449,739)P

     SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the sanitation and environmental health special fund the sum of $869,444 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2019-2020 and $1,588,349 or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2020-2021 to add fourteen full-time equivalent (14.0 FTE) permanent sanitarian positions and funds for improved food safety (HTH610/FQ).

     SECTION 4.  The sums appropriated in sections 2 and 3 shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050.

 

Report Title:

Budget; DOH; Operating Expenses; Appropriation

 

Description:

Appropriates funds for operating expenses for the Department of Health (HTH840).  Appropriates funds for the hiring of new sanitarian positions for food safety inspections (HTH610/FQ).  (SB235 HD1)

 

 

 

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