STAND. COM. REP. NO. 656

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 301

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 301, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RECYCLING,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Health to make changes to its advance disposal fee program.

 

     More specifically, the measure:

 

     (1)  Mandates the Department of Health to adopt and implement the recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor regarding combining the glass processing streams for the advance disposal fee program and the deposit beverage container program;

 

     (2)  Requires the Department of Health to report on its implementation of the recommendations to the Legislature prior to the 2019 Regular Session; and

 

     (3)  Appropriates funds for the Department of Health to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of combining the glass processing streams of the recycling programs.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the City and County of Honolulu Department of Environmental Services, and the Sierra Club of Hawaii.

 

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

 

     Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Wine Institute and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that glass recycling in the State is subsidized by two different programs.  Non-deposit glass recycling is subsidized by the advanced disposal fee program and deposit beverage container glass recycling is subsidized by the deposit beverage container program.  Each program requires that its glass be marked and processed separately.

 

     Your Committee further finds that the Legislature passed S.C.R. No. 74, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, Regular Session of 2014, to determine whether there was a more efficient option for the processing operations associated with glass recycling.  The concurrent resolution requested the Office of the Auditor to conduct an audit of the Department of Health's advance disposal fee program, which resulted in the recommendation that the Department of Health consider combining the glass processing streams for the advance disposal fee program and the deposit beverage container program.  The Office of the Auditor concluded that this would increase efficiency and decrease costs, while also increasing the supply of glass available for down-cycling.  Your Committee notes that the Office of the Auditor also recommended that the Department of Health update and finalize the 2008 Department of Health draft policy on glass recycling.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Changing the effective date to June 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

 

(2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the 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. 301, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 301, S.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair