STAND. COM. REP. NO. 464

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 132

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 132 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to add the chemicals homosalate, octocrylene, and octisalate to the sale and distribution sunscreen ban as of January 1, 2023.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Hawai‘i State Youth Commission, Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition, Kahalu‘u Bay Education Center - The Kohala Center, Surfrider Foundation O‘ahu Chapter, Surfrider Foundation Maui Chapter, Lani & Kai, Coral Reef Education Institute, Haereticus Environmental Laboratory, Hanauma Bay Snorkel Adventures, Waiwai Ola Waterkeepers Hawaiian Islands, Kawaihae Canoe Club, Hawaii Coral Reef Stakeholders Hui, Napili Bay and Beach Foundation, Safe Sunscreen Council, Chemists Without Borders, Shandong Agricultural University, Sorbonne Universite, and forty-five individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Food Industry Association, Personal Care Products Council, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Public Access to SunScreens Coalition, Consumer Healthcare Products Association, American Chemistry Council, and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health, American Academy of Dermatology Association, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that octocrylene is linked to significant harmful impacts on Hawaii's marine environment and ecosystems, including coral reefs that protect Hawaii's shoreline. Furthermore, as the environmental contamination of octocrylene is constantly refreshed and renewed daily by swimmers and beachgoers who apply sunscreens containing these three chemicals, the contamination persists in Hawaii's coastal waters.

Additionally, your Committee finds that since the passage of Act 14, Session Laws of Hawaii 2018, which prevented the sale and distribution of sunscreen containing oxybenzone and octinoxate in the State beginning on January 1, 2021, octocrylene and avobenzone have been shown to be harmful to marine life and human health and should also be kept out of our marine environment. Evolving science around the world clearly demonstrates that these ubiquitous and pervasive reef toxins irreversibly interfere with the life-cycles of Hawaii's foundational and endemic marine life. Furthermore, long-term exposure to avobenzone and octocrylene has been found to be lethal for some organisms living in freshwater environments.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing language that would have banned the sale of the sunscreen chemicals "octisalate" and "homesalate" beginning January 1, 2023;

(2) Inserting language that bans the sale of the sunscreen chemical "avobenzone" beginning January 1, 2023;

(3) Deleting the definition of "homosalate" and "octisalate";

(4) Adding the definition of "avobenzone"; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 132, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 132, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture and Environment,

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MIKE GABBARD, Chair