STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3042

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 Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2591, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NOISE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish 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.

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

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

Your Committee finds that while refuse collection services constitute a critical component of public health and sanitation, the early morning and evening operation of privately owned and operated refuse collection vehicles in densely populated areas exposes residents to the sounds of heavy machinery. Because these vehicles often operate in the early morning hours, residents are subject to chronic sleep disruption that negatively affects their health and well‑being. This measure will promote reasonable hours of operations to mitigate noise pollution and improve the quality of life of affected residents.

Your Committee additionally finds that the persistent noise problem that this measure seeks to address is certainly evident in Kakaʻako, Downtown Honolulu, Chinatown, and areas mauka of Chinatown, along with other high density neighborhoods across the State. Therefore, your Committee requests that subsequent committees to which this measure is referred consider broadening the application of this measure.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2591, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair