STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1163

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 734

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 734, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WASTEWATER SYSTEMS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Health, in consultation with various agencies and professionals, to review rules and practices and propose changes that have the potential to make wastewater systems and cesspool upgrades more affordable without compromising water quality.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Department of Health; Hawaiʻi Association of REALTORS; The Nature Conservancy, Hawaiʻi and Palmyra; Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations; Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition; Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi; Surfrider Foundation Hawaiʻi Region; Public Access to SunScreens (PASS) Coalition; and four individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from one individual.

Your Committees find that to address the State's cesspool pollution issue, the Legislature enacted Act 125, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017 (Act 125), to require all cesspools to be upgraded or converted to a septic system or aerobic treatment unit system or connected to a sewerage system before January 1, 2050, with certain exemptions. Your Committees further find that there are approximately eighty-three thousand cesspools in the State and that to fulfill the goal established in Act 125, the State must properly plan and find ways to assist communities and homeowners as resources and manpower are limited, especially on the neighbor islands. Your Committees note that administrative rules adopted almost a decade ago may exclude some feasible, affordable solutions and that rules and policies adopted in other states, if also adopted by the Department of Health, may improve public health and the environment more affordably without compromising water quality. Accordingly, this measure requires the Department of Health to reassess and upgrade the rules and regulations for wastewater treatment to lower the costs of upgrading cesspools to achieve the goal of converting all of the State's cesspools pursuant to Act 125.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committees note that this measure contains an unspecified appropriation amount. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committees respectfully request that it consider inserting an appropriation amount of $150,000 for the Department of Health to hire a consultant to advise on changes to its rules and policies that have the potential to make wastewater systems and cesspool upgrades more affordable without compromising water quality.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 734, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 734, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair