STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1093

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1325

       H.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1325, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STORMWATER MANAGEMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to encourage the protection of water resources in the State by authorizing the counties to charge user fees to create and maintain stormwater management systems or infrastructure.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; Office of Environmental Quality Control; Hawaii Green Growth; Nature Conservancy; Hawaii Community Foundation; Hawaii Farm Bureau; U.S. Green Building Council, Hawaii Chapter; Surfrider Foundation Hawaii Chapters; and eleven individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources and Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that rising development pressure, population growth, and climate change will likely increase the demand for water and compromise the State's fresh water supplies in the coming decades.  Your Committee further finds that it is important to encourage best practices and infrastructure investment to capture and retain rainfall for potable water before it becomes stormwater runoff.  Beneficial reuse of stormwater preserves our limited natural water resources, reserves higher quality water for higher quality uses, and reduces the amount of polluted runoff that fouls inland waterways and near-shore waters.  Implementation of this measure will encourage the protection of the State's water resources.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1325, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

________________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair