HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

988

TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013

H.D. 2

STATE OF HAWAII

S.D. 1

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO NATIVE WILDLIFE.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that Hawaii has the largest concentration of endangered and threatened species in the world, a majority of which are birds.  Of more than one hundred types of endemic Hawaiian birds, more than two-thirds are already extinct and over eighty per cent of those that remain are threatened with extinction.  Furthermore, there are more than fourteen million seabirds that rely on habitats in the Hawaiian archipelago.  It is imperative that the State protect these endangered and endemic animals if an oil or fuel-related disaster affecting native wildlife were to occur.

     The Hawaii Wildlife Center's mission is to conserve Hawaii's native wildlife through emergency response, rehabilitation, education, and research.  The Center is the only native wildlife emergency response and rehabilitation facility in the State and in the Pacific Islands region.  In addition, the Center is the only facility within the State that meets all federal and state standards for accommodating a large-scale rescue and rehabilitation effort targeting sick, injured, or oiled wildlife.  A purpose built and operational oiled-wildlife response facility is the standard set for highly successful emergency responses as it provides efficient, state-of-the-art wildlife care, provides control of animal and hazardous waste handling and tracking, and ensures the safety of everyone working with oiled wildlife.  Also, the Center serves as a critical emergency response facility for the training of response personnel and volunteers and for the rehabilitation of injured, sick, and contaminated wildlife throughout the Pacific Islands region.

     The purpose of this Act is to support the operations of an environmental disaster standby and response facility to respond to oil and fuel-related disasters affecting native wildlife in the State through the environmental response revolving fund.

     SECTION 2.  Section 128D-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

     "(b)  Moneys from the fund shall be expended by the department for response actions and preparedness, including removal and remedial actions, consistent with this chapter; provided that the revenues generated by the environmental response, energy, and food security tax deposited into the environmental response revolving fund:

     (1)  Shall be used:

         (A)  For oil spill planning, prevention, preparedness, education, research, training, removal, and remediation; and

         (B)  For direct support for county used oil recycling programs; and

     (2)  May also be used to support environmental protection and natural resource protection programs, including support for the operations of an environmental disaster standby and response facility in the State that shall be responsible for the recovery and rehabilitation of native wildlife that are sickened, injured, or contaminated as a result of an oil or fuel-related disaster in the State, energy conservation, and alternative energy development, and to address concerns related to air quality, global warming, clean water, polluted runoff, solid and hazardous waste, drinking water, and underground storage tanks, including support for the underground storage tank program of the department and funding for the acquisition by the State of a soil remediation site and facility."

     SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2013.




 

Report Title:

Environmental Response Revolving Fund; Wildlife Rehabilitation and Recovery

 

Description:

Amends section 128D-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to allow the environmental response revolving fund to be used to support the operations of an environmental disaster standby and response facility in the State that shall be responsible for the recovery and rehabilitation of native wildlife that are sickened, injured, or contaminated as a result of an oil or fuel-related disaster in the State.  (SD1)

 

 

 

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