STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1096

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 969

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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 969, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WASTE OR DISPOSAL FACILITIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to prohibit the construction, modification, or expansion of any waste or disposal facility on land that is near or above a significant aquifer, as determined by the Department of Health.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Honolulu Board of Water Supply; Free Access Coalition; Green Party of Hawaiʻi; Country Talk Story; Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau; Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260; Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi; Conservation Council for Hawaiʻi; The Moanalua Gardens Foundation; Justice and Witness Missional Team of the Hawaiʻi Conference United Church of Christ; Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi; and numerous individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of the Mayor of the County of Maui and Department of Public Works of the County of Kauaʻi. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health; Department of Environmental Services of the City and County of Honolulu; Energy Justice Network; and Reworld.

Your Committee finds that the State should take preemptive action to minimize the risk of pollution and contamination of water sources, including aquifers. This measure addresses this need by prohibiting the construction, modification, or expansion of any waste or disposal facility on land that is near or above a significant aquifer.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying what is considered a waste or disposal facility; 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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 969, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 969, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair