STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1384

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 103

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 103 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR TO CONVENE A TEMPORARY WORKING GROUP TO INVESTIGATE THE EXISTENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DANGERS OF PER- AND POLYFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES AND OTHER RELATED CHEMICALS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Request the Governor to convene a temporary working group to investigate the existence and environmental dangers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and other related chemicals; and

(2) Request the working group to submit interim reports to the Legislature before the Regular Sessions of 2026 and 2027, with a final report to be submitted before the Regular Session of 2028.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Kanalani Ohana Farm, Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi, Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition, Climate Protectors Hawaii, Coalition Earth, and two individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

Your Committee finds that PFAS are present and persistent in the environment and little is known of their impact in the State. Your Committee notes that, in addition to the over nineteen thousand gallons of JP-5 jet fuel released at the United States Navy's Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility complex in November 2021, another leak of the fire suppression system at the Red Hill complex released over one thousand three hundred gallons of aqueous film forming foam concentrate, containing PFAS, into the environment a little over a year later on November 29, 2022. Your Committee believes that the investigation requested in this measure is necessary for the ongoing monitoring and long-term cleanup of PFAS in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that any other relevant stakeholders requested to serve as members of the working group be determined by the members of the working group; and

(2) 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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 103, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 103, S.D. 1.

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

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MIKE GABBARD, Chair