STAND. COM. REP. NO. 261-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 1924

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. 1924 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RECYCLING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish the Mattress Stewardship Program, which requires producers to designate stewardship organizations to develop and implement plans to ensure collection, reuse, donation, and recycling opportunities for mattresses, box springs, and mattress foundations.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition; Climate Protectors Hawaiʻi; and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the International Sleep Products Association. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health and Retail Merchants of Hawaiʻi.

Your Committee finds that discarded mattresses, box springs, and mattress foundations present a major challenge to Hawaii's solid waste management system and that materials from these products should be reused and recycled. Your Committee further finds that a number of states have established extended producer responsibility programs for these products, promoting landfill diversion and reducing illegal dumping. While your Committee recognizes the need to address this persistent solid waste challenge, your Committee finds that the implementation of a mattress stewardship program is premature and that further work is needed to develop such a program.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Removing provisions establishing the Mattress Stewardship Program and Mattress Stewardship Special Fund and replacing it with a Mattress Stewardship Working Group;

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

(3) 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. 1924, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1924, 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