STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2399

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2856

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2856 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE REVOLVING FUND,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for environmental health programs through the environmental response revolving fund.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that the Department of Health receives 5 cents from the $1.05 tax levied on barrels of crude oil imported into the State.  These monies are deposited into the environmental response revolving fund, which supports oil spill response and environmental clean ups to protect Hawaii's beaches from oil pollution and protect Hawaii's visitors and residents from chemical contamination.

     Your Committee further finds that the environmental response revolving fund balance is dangerously low due to reduced consumption of crude oil, while the demand for hazard evaluation and response has increased in recent years due to events like the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Honolulu Harbor molasses spill, and several ground soil contaminations.  A one-time appropriation of general funds will bridge the funding gap to meet the needs of the immediate future.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 Energy and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2856, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2856, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair