STAND. COM. REP. NO. 555

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 1303

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 1303 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WATER CONSERVATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to certain counties to create pilot programs that incentivize residential homeowners in certain dry areas to replace landscaping refurbishments with alternatives that reduce water use.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, City and County of Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Landscape Industry Council of Hawai‘i, and two individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the National Association of Landscape Professionals.

Your Committee finds that conserving Hawaii's finite water resources is essential to ensuring the health of the State's fresh water supply. Residential irrigation is a major source of water use and, frequently, wasteful misuse. This measure would provide incentives to residential homeowners to adopt landscaping practices that could include planting native species and pollinator plants and lowering water use.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Designating the City and County of Honolulu Board of Water Supply as the expending agency of the appropriation;

(2) Clarifying that residential homeowners can qualify for incentives under the Irrigation Water Use Reduction Pilot Program for replacing existing landscaping and irrigation with alternatives that lower water use, with preference given to alternatives that include native species and support pollinators;

(3) Requiring the City and County of Honolulu to provide a forty percent match, rather than a dollar-for-dollar match, for the Irrigation Water Use Reduction Pilot Program;

(4) Specifying that the City and County of Honolulu Board of Water Supply shall determine the rebate amount not to exceed $1,500 per project;

(5) Specifying that to qualify for the rebate under the Irrigation Water Use Reduction Pilot Program, the City and County of Honolulu Board of Water Supply shall verify that the residential homeowner experienced a reduction in water use by at least thirty percent and the replacement of landscaping or irrigation was performed by a licensed landscape contractor in good standing with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs;

(6) Requiring the City and County of Honolulu Board of Water Supply to submit a report to the Legislature on water use reduction metrics and other findings related to the Irrigation Water Use Reduction Pilot Program;

(7) Deleting language that would have appropriated funds for the County of Hawaii to establish an Irrigation Water Use Reduction Pilot Program;

(8) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider an appropriation amount of $600,000.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1303, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1303, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection,

____________________________

NICOLE E. LOWEN, Chair