STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2548

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2993
                                        S.D. 2




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B.
No. 2993, S.D. 1, entitled: 

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to create an Environmental
Health Consumer Advocate and an Environmental Health Consumer
Advocacy Division within the Department of Commerce and Consumer
Affairs to provide information and assistance to, and represent,
protect, and advance the interests of, consumers on environmental
health matters.

     In addition, this bill:

     (1)  Funds the operating and personnel costs of the
          Environmental Health Consumer Advocate and the
          Environmental Health Consumer Advocacy Division out of
          the environmental response revolving fund;

     (2)  Establishes an environmental protection hotline in the
          Department of Health to receive confidential reports
          and inquiries from the public about events that may
          adversely affect the State's environmental quality or
          ecology, as these events are taking place;


 
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     (3)  Requires the Department of Health to conduct studies,
          research, and tests when legal levels of toxins capable
          of causing an environmentally-related injury or illness
          are exceeded;

     (4)  Requires every builder of a new housing development of
          ten or more residential homes built on former
          agricultural lands, prior to receiving zoning or other
          permitting approval, to test the housing development
          site's soil, including soil transported onto the site;

     (5)  Requires moneys in the environmental response revolving
          fund, up to an unspecified limit, to be used for direct
          support of the Environmental Health Consumer Advocate
          and the Environmental Health Consumer Advocacy
          Division;

     (6)  Requires the Director of Health to conduct studies,
          research, and tests in communities with water quality
          levels below the standards required by the safe
          drinking water law;

     (7)  Requires the Department of Health to:

          (A)  Conduct a review to identify communities with a
               water supply that is poorer in quality than the
               average for the State;

          (B)  Develop and implement, and make reports to the
               Legislature concerning, recommendations to improve
               the quality of water in these communities;

     (8)  Requires the Department of Health to convene a Campbell
          Industrial Park task force to:

          (A)  Study the number and severity of unplanned
               releases of toxic emissions and spills over the
               past ten years; and

          (B)  Make recommendations to the Legislature for
               stricter ambient air quality standards, an
               improved notification process in the event of an
               unplanned release of toxic emissions and spills,
               and statutory and regulatory changes; and


 
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     (9)  Appropriates $100,000 out of the environmental response
          revolving fund to conduct the Campbell Industrial Park
          task force study.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Sunsetting the Campbell Industrial Park task force on
          June 30, 2002;

     (2)  Changing the sum appropriated to conduct the Campbell
          Industrial Park task force study to an unspecified
          amount; and

     (3)  Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of
          clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No.
2993, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2993, S.D.
2.

                                 Respectfully submitted on behalf
                                 of the members of the Committee
                                 on Ways and Means,



                                 ________________________________
                                 CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair



                                 ________________________________
                                 ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair

 
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