HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1967

THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO WASTE OR DISPOSAL FACILITIES.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the COVID-19 pandemic made apparent the many threats to the State's food systems and self-sufficiency.  The pandemic also exacerbated the food insecurity experienced by some residents whose purchasing power had declined because of reduced employment.  To ensure that the State's residents are able to meet their basic needs during future economic downturns and disasters, it is imperative that the State prioritize food security.

     The legislature further finds that food safety is an essential component of food security.  Each year, forty-eight million people in the United States get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and three thousand die from foodborne diseases.  Prohibiting the siting, modification, or expansion of waste and disposal facilities on agricultural lands will reduce the risk that contaminants from these facilities will blow, flow, spill, or otherwise affect plants and animals on agricultural lands.

     The purpose of this Act is to prohibit the construction, modification, or expansion of a waste or disposal facility within agricultural districts and important agricultural lands in counties with a population of five hundred thousand or more.

     SECTION 2.  Section 342H-52, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§342H-52  Prohibitions; buffer zones.  (a)  No person, including the State or any county, shall construct, operate, modify, expand, or close a municipal solid waste landfill unit, or any component of a municipal solid waste landfill unit, without first obtaining a permit from the director.  All permits for municipal solid waste landfill units shall be subject to any terms and conditions that the director determines are necessary to protect human health or the environment.

     (b)  No person, including the State or county, shall construct, modify, or expand a waste or disposal facility including a municipal solid waste landfill unit, any component of a municipal solid waste landfill unit, a construction and demolition landfill unit, or any component of a construction and demolition landfill unit in agricultural districts and on important agricultural lands in any county with a population of five hundred thousand or more.

     [(b)] (c)  No person, including the State or any county, shall construct, modify, or expand a waste or disposal facility including a municipal solid waste landfill unit, any component of a municipal solid waste landfill unit, a construction and demolition landfill unit, or any component of a construction and demolition landfill unit without first establishing a buffer zone of no less than one-half mile around the waste or disposal facility.  This subsection shall not apply to the continued operation of an existing waste or disposal facility that is properly permitted; provided that continued operation does not require physical expansion, vertical or horizontal, of the facility requiring additional permitting review and a permit modification.

     (d)  For the purposes of this [subsection:] section:

     "Agricultural district" means the land use district identified in section 205-2.

     "Buffer zone" means the distance between the edge of waste or waste activity and the nearest residential, school, or hospital property line.

     "Important agricultural lands" means land identified and designated as important agricultural lands pursuant to part III of chapter 205.

     "Waste or disposal facility" excludes individual, state certified, non-industrial redemption centers."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2022.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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Report Title:

Waste or Disposal Facilities; Agricultural Districts; Important Agricultural Lands

 

Description:

Prohibits the construction, modification, or expansion of any waste or disposal facility in agricultural districts and on important agricultural lands in counties with a population of five hundred thousand or more.

 

 

 

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