STAND. COM. REP. NO. 79-26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2026

RE: H.B. No. 2245

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. 2245 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require:

(1) Beginning July 1, 2027, each individual wastewater system that is newly installed or modified to have denitrification capacity if located within two hundred feet from a shoreline;

(2) Beginning July 1, 2027, each individual wastewater system that is newly installed or modified in certain counties to have denitrification capacity if located within twelve hundred feet from a shoreline in an area with highly porous substrate; and

(3) The Department of Health to provide reductions in leach field and other requirements for systems with denitrification capacity.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources; Department of Health; one member of the Hawaiʻi County Council; Friends of Hanauma Bay; WAI: Wastewater Alternatives & Innovations; Puakō for Reefs; Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition; Surfrider Foundation, Hawaiʻi Region; The Nature Conservancy Hawaiʻi and Palmyra; Hawaiʻi Ocean Legislative Task Force; and three individuals.

Your Committee finds that pollution from individual wastewater systems that release nitrogen into groundwater is extremely harmful to coral reefs and nearshore ecosystems. Your Committee further finds that with denitrification capacity, pollution from these wastewater systems can be reduced. This measure seeks to protect Hawaii's nearshore waters by establishing denitrification capacity requirements for certain wastewater systems located near the shoreline.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the determination of an area with highly porous substrate will be based on the most recent version of the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service's Web Soil Survey or the State Geographic Information System Program;

(2) Clarifying that the Department of Health shall provide reduced requirements for disposal systems connected to wastewater systems with denitrification capacity;

(3) Amending the definition of "shoreline";

(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. 2245, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2245, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Water & Land.

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

____________________________

NICOLE E. LOWEN, Chair