STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1855

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2021

RE: S.B. No. 1021

S.D. 2

H.D. 3

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 1021, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BURIALS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to include the use of traditional Native Hawaiian burial practices in the treatment and disposal of human remains, including the use of alkaline hydrolysis and natural organic reduction.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Willed Body Program of the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine; Fisher & Associates Consulting, LLC; Aloha Mortuary; Ken Ordenstein Funerals; and eleven individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Nuuanu Memorial Park & Mortuary; Mililani Group, Inc.; Hawaii Funeral & Cemetery Association, Inc.; Dodo Mortuary, Inc.; Leeward Funeral Home; Hawaiian Memorial Life Plan, Ltd.; and one individual.

Your Committee finds that traditional Hawaiian burial practices are deeply integral to Hawaiian culture and identity and offer a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to modern treatments of human remains. This measure addresses certain barriers to the traditional Hawaiian method of preparing human remains, which will enable the restoration and revival of traditional Native Hawaiian burial practices and values.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting all references to natural organic reduction and natural organic reduction facilities; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1021, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1021, S.D. 2, H.D. 3.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

AARON LING JOHANSON, Chair