STAND. COM. REP. NO. 14-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1749

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 1749 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CESSPOOLS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of Health to adopt rules to prioritize priority level 1 and priority level 2 cesspools in any efforts undertaken to assist with cesspool upgrade, conversion, and connection and provide guidance to property owners;

(2) Require and appropriate funds for the Hawaiʻi Cesspool Prioritization Tool to be updated as determined by the Department of Health;

(3) Beginning January 1, 2027, require sellers to provide buyers with a cesspool disclosure form before the execution of a real estate purchase contract;

(4) Require the Department of Health and Real Estate Commission to develop a standardized cesspool disclosure form by November 1, 2026; and

(5) Establish penalties.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health; Department of Land and Natural Resources; Office of Planning and Sustainable Development; Surfrider Foundation, Hawaiʻi Region; Public Access to SunScreens Coalition; Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition; Hawaiʻi Ocean Legislative Task Force; The Nature Conservancy Hawaiʻi and Palmyra; WAI: Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations; and three individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the University of Hawaiʻi Water Resources Research Center; University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program; and Hawaiʻi Association of REALTORS.

Your Committee finds that many property sales executed before January 1, 2050, may include homes that are served by cesspools, which should be disclosed to buyers. This measure ensures that buyers are made aware of the kind of wastewater system servicing a home before signing a real estate purchase contract.

While your Committee acknowledges the need to address the Department of Health's involvement in prioritizing certain cesspools and to ensure that cesspool prioritization data in the Hawaiʻi Cesspool Prioritization Tool is up to date and accurate, your Committee recognizes that other measures are addressing these issues.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing the requirement that the Department of Health adopt rules to prioritize certain cesspools and provide guidance to property owners;

(2) Removing the requirement and appropriation for the Hawaiʻi Cesspool Prioritization Tool to be updated;

(3) Changing the name of the cesspool disclosure form to the wastewater system disclosure form and amending the contents of the form;

(4) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

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. 1749, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1749, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

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

____________________________

NICOLE E. LOWEN, Chair