STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2604

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 368

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 368 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CESSPOOL CONVERSION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to remove limitations on specific types of wastewater systems to which cesspools must be upgraded or converted and require a cesspool to be upgraded or converted to a wastewater system approved by the Department of Health.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; Surfrider Foundation; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc.; and three individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that existing limits on cesspool upgrades make the process of upgrading a cesspool prohibitively expensive. However, cesspools have numerous detrimental effects on water quality and the environment. This measure allows for more options when upgrading cesspools to make upgrades more feasible.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting additional requirements for cesspools within five hundred feet of certain bodies of water to be upgraded by January 1, 2024; and

(2) 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 Agriculture and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 368, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 368, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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MIKE GABBARD, Chair