STAND. COM. REP. NO. 438

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1037

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health, Agriculture, and Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 1037 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HEALTH IMPACTS OF PESTICIDES,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Health to establish a mandatory disclosure program for pesticide use by all persons or entities under certain circumstances.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; American Academy of Pediatrics, Hawaii Chapter; Good Beginnings Alliance; CropLife America; Planned Parenthood; Life of the Land; BluSea Foundation; Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii; IMUAlliance; and sixteen individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Western Plant Health Association, Syngenta Hawaii, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Dow Agrosciences, Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United, Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, Maui County Farm Bureau, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, and six individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health; Department of Agriculture; Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.; and Hawaii Pest Control Association.

 

     Your Committees find that it is of the utmost importance to protect communities that could be potentially impacted by pesticide drift.  In Hawaii, there have been at least six episodes of pesticide-induced illness at schools since 2006.  Exposure to pesticide drift causes numerous short-term impacts, such as headaches, dizziness, difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, weakness, chest pain, fatigue, rashes, and eye ailments.

 

     Your Committees have heard testimony from several individuals related to the unknown effects of combinations of pesticide use and request that your Committee on Ways and Means examine this issue if it chooses to hear this measure.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by 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 Health, Agriculture, and Energy and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1037, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1037, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health, Agriculture, and Energy and Environment,

 

____________________________

RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair

 

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair

 

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair