STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2251

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2096

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 2096 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require certain wastewater treatment plants to test sewage sludge and any other residual material for the presence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS);

(2) Require the Department of Health to adopt administrative rules for the safe disposal and sequestration of sewage sludge and other residual material that contain specific amounts of PFAS; and

(3) Prohibit the issuance or renewal of permits if testing yields PFAS in sewage sludge or other residual material on land used for agronomic purposes, on land where drainage tiles have been installed, on land that drains into waters of the State, or land in a five hundred-year floodplain.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Hawaiʻi Food+ Policy, Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi, and three individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health and Hawaiʻi Reef and Ocean Coalition.

Your Committees find that PFAS are known as "forever chemicals" because they do not break down easily in the environment. Your Committees further find that PFAS pose severe risks to marine life by bioaccumulating in tissues and magnifying up the food chain, causing immune system suppression, reproductive failure, and hormonal disruption in marine species like dolphins, whales, seals, and fish. This measure supports the prevention of PFAS contamination and protects the long-term health of the State's people, environment, and food system.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that a wastewater treatment works, rather than a wastewater treatment plant, that has been approved for land application of its sewage sludge shall test sewage sludge and any other residual material that is intended for land application for the presence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances;

(2) Specifying that the Director of Health shall adopt rules providing for the monitoring, sampling, testing, and data collection of sewage sludge and other residual materials accumulated at a wastewater treatment works that contain perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2096, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2096, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Human Services and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair