STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2635

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2532

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Water and Land, to which was referred S.B. No. 2532 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMPOSTING,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a class of artisan-scale composting operations exempt from Department of Health regulations to divert organic materials from Hawaii's landfills.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Youth Climate Coalition; Zero Waste Kauai; Stellar Gardens LLC; Seeger Institute at Eden Farms Hawaii; A‘a Li‘i Farm; Zero Waste Big Island; OrganicHawaii.org; Aina Design; Pele Lani Farm LLC; Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i; Cultivar Goods; Surfrider Foundation of Hawaii; We Are One, Inc.; Recycle Hawai‘i; Zero Waste O‘ahu; and sixty-seven individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Health. Your Committees received comments on this measure from one individual.

Your Committees find that as evidence mounts that the planet's survival depends on transitioning away from carbon‑based fuels, a greater understanding of the relationship between human activities and the earth's natural systems points to the additional need for an equally ambitious effort to remove carbon from the atmosphere by increasing the carbon sequestration capacity of earth's soils. The use of composted organics with their vast stores of macro- and micro- nutrients greatly improves the health of all soils in ways that protect and enhance natural systems, while imported, petroleum-based, and energy-intensive fertilizers destabilize a healthy soil microbiome.

Your Committees further find that organics constitute the largest single component of Hawai‘i's waste stream and the diversion of waste organics into composting programs is the least costly and most direct method for the State to meet its solid waste reduction goals. This measure proposes to create a class of artisan-scale composting operations that are exempt from Department of Health regulations and easily established by farmers and others as a means to divert organic materials from Hawaii's landfills and sequester atmospheric carbon.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying the definition of "artisan scale" to mean a composting operation that accepts, measured on a monthly average, no more than one cubic yard of non‑pathogenic organic materials, at a site controlled and owned by the waste generator with the finished compost applied and controlled by the same waste generator;

(2) Adding the Green New Deal to section 1; and

(3) 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 Water and Land that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2532, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2532, 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 Agriculture and Environment and Water and Land,

________________________________ KAIALI'I KAHELE, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair