STAND. COM. REP. NO. 599

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 379

H.D. 2

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Water & Land, to which was referred H.B. No. 379, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require newly installed or modified individual wastewater systems that are near the shoreline, or likely to pollute groundwater, to include denitrification capacity.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; one member of the Kaua‘i County Council; two members of the Hawai‘i County Council; Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science; Puako for Reefs; Kauhakō ‘Ohana Association; Hawai‘i Reef and Ocean Coalition; Hawai‘i Ocean Legislative Task Force; WAI: Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations; The Nature Conservancy, Hawaiʻi and Palmyra; Water Quality Consulting, Inc.; Hawai‘i State Association of Counties; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health and Hawai‘i Association of REALTORS.

Your Committee finds that clean nearshore waters are vital to public health and the health of nearshore reefs and associate fisheries. Your Committee further finds that when excess nutrients such as nitrogen enter nearshore waters from wastewater systems, they can stimulate the growth of algae, which can smother coral. Requiring newly installed or modified individual wastewater systems to include denitrification capacity, as proposed by this measure, will likely reduce the amount of pollutants entering Hawaii's nearshore waters, ensuring future generations can reap the benefits of healthy and resilient coral reef ecosystems.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting the requirement that individual wastewater systems located at or below one thousand five hundred feet above sea level and subject to certain soil and substrate conditions have denitrification capacity; 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 Water & Land that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 379, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 379, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Water & Land,

____________________________

MARK J. HASHEM, Chair