STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1116

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 445

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 445, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO POLLUTION ABATEMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Increase civil penalties for the violation of various pollution provisions; and

(2) Establish and appropriate funds for one full-time equivalent environmental health specialist position.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health.

Your Committees find that various pollution provisions have not been updated for more than twenty years and that, due to inflation and other economic changes, the fines in these provisions have lost their ability to deter polluting behavior. For many polluting entities, the economic benefit of polluting may outweigh the cost of paying the fines in place. Thus, this measure increases the penalties of several pollution provisions to ensure that any financial or economic gain of committing such violations are eliminated, thereby reducing pollution in the State.

Your Committees have amended this measure by inserting an effective date of March 22, 2075, to encourage further discussion

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 445, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 445, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means,

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair