STAND. COM. REP. NO. 679

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1132

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1132 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SOLID WASTE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide sufficient funding for the regulation of waste management by:

 

     (1)  Extending the application of the solid waste management surcharge to include:

 

          (A)  Solid waste shipped outside the State for disposal; and

 

          (B)  Waste disposed of at waste-to-energy facilities; and

 

     (2)  Increasing the solid waste management surcharge using a tiered structure commensurate with the impact of the means of disposal on the Department of Health.

 

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

 

     Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the General Contractors Association of Hawaii.

 

Your Committee finds that the solid waste disposal surcharge has not been raised since 1997 despite a growing workload and a twenty-five per cent reduction in staff.  The solid waste disposal surcharge is not collected on solid waste disposed of at waste-to-energy facilities or shipped out of the State, despite the fact that the Department of Health permits and regulates these facilities.  This measure will increase the solid waste disposal surcharge and apply it to those facilities that are currently excluded from its application, to fund the Department of Health's regulatory oversight of these facilities.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Requiring owners or operators of landfills to remit all money collected from the solid waste management surcharge to the Department of Health;

 

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

 

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

 

     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. 1132, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1132, S.D. 1.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair