STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 555-20
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2020
RE: H.B. No. 2407
H.D. 1
Honorable Scott K. Saiki
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirtieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2020
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Health, to which was referred H.B. No. 2407 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATEWIDE COMPOSTING,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to:
(1) Require the Department of Health to update its co-composting rules by January 1, 2021, and every five years thereafter;
(2) Require the Department of Health to establish a multi-tiered registration and permitting system for composting facilities; and
(3) Allow composting and co-composting in the agricultural district, including on lands with class A or B soils.
Your Committees find that food waste is the second largest component that enters a waste stream and accounts for twenty‑five percent of all materials sent to landfills. Nearly fifty percent of organic materials disposed of in incinerators and landfills can be diverted for bioconversion, including composting. Your Committees further find that the existing permitting process for composting operations is an onerous and unreasonable barrier to lawful participation for small to midsize composting operations. This measure seeks to mandate updates to composting regulations and permitting processes to increase the number of operators diverting organics from landfills and incinerators, thereby improving the State's sustainability and self-sufficiency.
Your Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Deleting the requirement that the Department of Health periodically update its rules and establish a multi-tiered registration and permitting system for composting facilities;
(2) Requiring the Department of Health to instead adopt or amend rules to establish a classification system for composting facilities or operations for the purposes of regulating them for health purposes;
(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and
(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2407, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2407, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Health,
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____________________________ JOHN M. MIZUNO, Chair |
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____________________________ NICOLE E. LOWEN, Chair |
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