STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2939

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2159

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2159, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LEAF BLOWERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Clarify that the residential zone restriction on the use of leaf blowers at certain hours includes residential districts, apartment districts, and business mixed use districts; and

(2) Remove the exemption on leaf blower restrictions for government agencies.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Climate Protectors Hawai‘i, Chinatown Gateway Plaza Tenant Association, and three individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Transportation.

Your Committee finds that noise pollution is an ongoing and growing problem in the State. Leaf blowers cause a great deal of noise that, over a period of time, becomes an extreme nuisance which is harmful and disruptive to many individuals' lives particularly in residential areas. This measure will help ensure that the operation of leaf blowers in residential zone areas is limited to appropriate times.

Your Committee has amended this measure by specifying that government entities, and agents acting on behalf of government entities, may use leaf blowers during the prohibited hours in the case of an emergency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2159, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2159, S.D. 2.

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

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KARL RHOADS, Chair