STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2474

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2717

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2717 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CESSPOOLS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Establish a cesspool compliance grant program and special fund to assist beneficiaries on Hawaiian home lands with cesspool upgrade, conversion, or connection costs;

 

     (2)  Prohibit a recipient of a cesspool compliance grant from claiming the cesspool upgrade, conversion, or connection income tax credit and vice versa; and

 

     (3)  Appropriate funds for the grant program.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Hoomana Pono, LLC; Hoomanapono Political Action Committee; and Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawaii.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General, Department of Health, Department of Budget and Finance, and Department of Taxation.

 

     Your Committees find that section 342D-72, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires the upgrade, conversion, or connection of all cesspools by 2050.  There are currently approximately eighty-eight thousand cesspools in the State, discharging roughly fifty-three million gallons of untreated sewage into the groundwater every day.  Your Committees note that about ninety-five percent of the State's drinking water is sourced from underground, making cesspools a significant threat to public health.  Your Committees believe that establishing a grant program to assist beneficiaries on Hawaiian home lands to comply with section 342D-72, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to ensure the protection of the public's health.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Inserting the language in the Hawaii Revised Statutes, rather than the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, as amended;

 

     (2)  Clarifying the definitions for "cesspool", "septic system", and "aerobic treatment unit system";

 

     (3)  Authorizing the Department of Hawaiian Homes Lands and Department of Taxation to share information regarding grant recipients and their tax identification number to ensure that recipients of the newly established grant do not claim the cesspool upgrade, conversion, or connection income tax credit; and

 

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

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2717, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2717, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Hawaiian Affairs and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

 

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

________________________________

MAILE S.L. SHIMABUKURO, Chair