STAND. COM. REP. NO. 922-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1894

H.D. 3

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1894, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN REMAINS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to accommodate the use of traditional Native Hawaiian burial practices and environmentally-friendly burial practices by including water cremation in the treatment and disposal of human remains.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Willed Body Program of the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii at Manoa; Fisher and Associates, LLC; Aloha Mortuary; Ken Ordenstein Funerals; and thirteen individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Department of Health, and Hawaii Funeral and Cemetery Association, Inc.

Your Committee finds that the interest in traditional Native Hawaiian practices for burials has increased among Native Hawaiians and non-Native Hawaiians. Traditional Native Hawaiian burials include certain practices for treatment of human remains, which involve reducing remains to skeletal components and interring the iwi, or bones, in a kapa or lauhala container. In addition, your Committee finds that a process called water cremation, technically known as alkaline hydrolysis, provides an alternative to the traditional, flame-based cremation through the use of alkaline chemicals, heat, agitation, and pressure to gently accelerate natural decomposition. This measure accommodates the use of traditional Native Hawaiian burial practices and the burial practice of water cremation to provide greater options for persons to memorialize the deceased.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that commercial hydrolysis facilities are to be subject to the requirements for funeral establishments and mortuaries, rather than subjecting hydrolysis facilities to licensure by the Department of Health;

(2) Clarifying the wastewater discharge requirements applicable to hydrolysis facilities; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1894, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1894, H.D. 3.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

AARON LING JOHANSON, Chair