STAND. COM. REP. NO.  626-22

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2022

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1894

      H.D. 2

 

 

 

 

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1894, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN REMAINS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to accommodate the use of traditional Native Hawaiian burial practices and environmentally-friendly burial practices by including water cremation in the treatment and disposal of human remains.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Fisher & Associates, LLC; Aloha Mortuary; Ken Ordenstein Funerals; and twelve individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Department of Health, and Hawaii Funeral & Cemetery Association, Inc.

 

     Your Committee finds that there has been an increase of interest in traditional Native Hawaiian practices for burials among Native Hawaiians and non-Native Hawaiians.  Traditional Native Hawaiian burials include certain practices for treatment of human remains, which involve reducing remains to skeletal components and interring the iwi, or bones, in a kapa or lauhala container.  In addition, your Committee finds that a process called water cremation, technically known as alkaline hydrolysis, provides an alternative to the traditional, flame-based cremation.  This measure accommodates the use of traditional Native Hawaiian burial practices and the burial practice of water cremation to provide greater options for persons to memorialize the deceased.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Requiring the Department of Health, rather than the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, to be responsible for establishing licensing requirements and training standards for, and issuing licenses to, hydrolysis facilities in the State;

 

     (2)  Clarifying that hydrolysis facilities in the State are subject to existing licensing requirements;

 

     (3)  Requiring sterile wastewater from hydrolysis facilities to be discharged into the sewer system as approved by the counties; and

 

     (4)  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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1894, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1894, H.D. 2.

 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair