STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2638

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2591

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2591 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NOISE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit the operation of privately owned and operated refuse collection vehicles before 6:00 a.m. and after 6:00 p.m. within five hundred feet of any area zoned for mixed-use or residential apartment use within any county having a population of five hundred thousand or more.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from eleven individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

Your Committee finds that refuse collection services are essential to public health and sanitation; however, the early morning and evening operation of privately owned and operated refuse collection vehicles in close proximity to residential and mixed-use areas can create significant noise disturbances. Your Committee further finds that residents in densely populated counties are particularly impacted by noise generated outside of customary daytime hours. This measure seeks to promote reasonable hours of operation to protect residential quiet enjoyment while maintaining necessary sanitation services.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Establishing a two-year pilot project to prohibit the operation of privately owned and operated refuse collection vehicles before 6:00 a.m. and after 6:00 p.m. within five hundred feet of any area zoned for mixed-use or residential apartment use within the Waikiki area of the City and County of Honolulu, rather than prohibiting such operation in any county with a population of five hundred thousand or more;

(2) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose;

(3) Inserting an effective date of January 30, 2050, to encourage further discussion;

(4) Inserting a repeal date of June 30, 2028;

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2591, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2591, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health and Human Services,

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JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair