STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 609
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2025
RE: H.B. No. 736
H.D. 1
Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2025
State of Hawaii
Madame:
Your Committee on Higher Education, to which was referred H.B. No. 736, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WASTEWATER SYSTEMS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Department of Health; University of Hawaiʻi Water Resources Research Center; Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission; Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition; Water Quality Consulting, Inc.; Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi; Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations; and six individuals.
Your Committee finds that new wastewater technologies and management solutions are being introduced that may improve public health and the environment, especially the protection of fragile coral reefs, and are more affordable than some traditional individual wastewater systems. Technologies that are reaching a commercial scale for the first time include solutions for individual homes, multi-unit dwellings, apartment buildings, and entire communities. At the neighborhood or municipal scale, these technologies could effectively treat sewage from entire communities for lower costs than existing technology now employed in Hawaii.
Your Committee further finds that these new technologies need to be tested in order to be certified by the Department of Health for use in the State. Your Committee notes that the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center has experience in such testing; however, the Center would need funding for a full-time coordinator, administrative efforts and infrastructure, and equipment costs for testing and analyses. This measure will establish a pilot program that will provide the Center with the resources it needs to test new wastewater system technologies to facilitate the technologies' certification for use in Hawaii.
Your Committee notes that the cost estimate provided by the Center in its testimony is $745,325 for the three-year period of the New Wastewater System Technology Testing Pilot Program.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Higher Education that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 736, H.D. 1, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Higher Education,
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____________________________ ANDREW TAKUYA GARRETT, Chair |
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