STAND. COM. REP. NO. 289

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 258

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 258 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LEAD-BASED PAINT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to reduce risks to public health and welfare by banning the use of lead-based paints on outdoor structures and to provide for an abatement plan for lead hazards that already exist on outdoor structures.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education and O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

Your Committees find that lead-based paint has serious health risks. Lead has been shown to cause neurological damage, behavioral and learning disabilities in children, kidney damage, miscarriages, and more. There is no safe level of exposure to lead and no way to reverse the damage caused by lead exposure.

Your Committees also find that while restrictions on lead-based paints have been in place for residential structures for decades, only Delaware has restrictions on lead-based paints on outdoor structures. Lead-based paints have historically been used and continue to be allowed on outdoor structures such as bridges, water towers, playground equipment, highways, parking lots, and utility towers and poles. The use, maintenance, and removal of paints containing lead on outdoor structures create lead exposure pathways that are hazardous to workers, contaminate the environment, and expose children and adults who live, work, and play in proximity to these structures.

Your Committees note that the Department of Health does not currently have the resources and expertise it needs to implement rules to ban lead-based paint on outdoor structures and create an abatement plan for existing structures with lead-based paint. Your Committees also note that this measure does not appropriate funds for such purposes.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting the requirement for administrative rulemaking regarding development of the lead-based paint abatement plan; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 258, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 258, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Environment and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

________________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair