STAND. COM. REP. NO. 166-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 2130

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 2130 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN EMERGENCY APPROPRIATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOR LEAD ABATEMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make an emergency appropriation to the Department of Education for lead abatement.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Department of Health, and Hawaii State Teachers Association. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that the Department of Education strives to ensure that its facilities are maintained to protect the health and safety of its students, teachers, and staff. Your Committee further finds that the results of the recently completed first phase of a United States Environmental Protection Agency's Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act grant programs found that Department of Education elementary schools with old plumbing fixtures resulted in finding trace amounts of lead being found in drinking water sources. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, there is no known safe level of lead in a child's blood and lead is harmful to health, especially for children. This measure will provide the funding necessary for the Department of Education to repair or replace the old plumbing fixtures and provide safe drinking water to elementary school students.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation amount to an unspecified amount;

(2) Changing its effective date to July 1, 2050; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Should your Committee on Finance decide to deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it appropriate $1,850,000 to the Department of Education for lead abatement.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2130, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2130, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Education,

____________________________

JUSTIN H. WOODSON, Chair