STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2601

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2475

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 Water, Land, Culture and the Arts and Public Safety and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2475 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RED HILL,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Appropriate funds for studies on remediation of substances released from the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility; environmental monitoring and testing; research on groundwater modeling and sampling; and independent testing and verification of water data, to be published on a public dashboard; and

(2) Require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to seek reimbursement from the United States Department of Defense.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, University of Hawaiʻi System, Board of Water Supply of the City and County of Honolulu, Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi, and ten individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from one individual.

Your Committees find that, according to a Red Hill Water Alliance Initiative report, up to 1,940,000 gallons of fuel have spilled into the environment at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility over its eighty years of operation. Although the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility was defueled in 2024 and is in the process of being decommissioned for permanent closure, your Committees further find that the impact of past spills and releases of hazardous materials to the environment and underground sole source aquifer remain largely unknown. This measure will assist the State in fulfilling its constitutional duty to conserve and protect its natural resources, including the unique hydrology of Red Hill, by appropriating funds for further research that will help expedite the full remediation of Red Hill.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a blank appropriation amount; and

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

Your Committees note that this measure, as amended, contains an appropriation for an unspecified amount. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committees respectfully request that it consider inserting an amount of $11,169,513 for fiscal year 2026-2027.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts and Public Safety and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2475, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2475, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Water, Land, Culture and the Arts and Public Safety and Military Affairs,

________________________________ CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair

________________________________ CHRIS LEE, Chair