STAND. COM. REP. NO 543

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 320

       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 Agriculture and Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 320 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow composting on all lands with soil classified by the Land Study Bureau's detailed land classification as overall (master) productivity rating class A or B.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Planning and Permitting; Maui EKO Systems, Inc.; Zero Waste Campaign Maui; Malama O Puna; Pacific Biodiesel Technologies; Hawaii County Council District 9; the Kona Chapter of Hawaii Farmers Union United; and seventeen individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Agriculture, Department of Health, and one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that composting helps to achieve several environmental goals, including diversion of waste from landfills, prevention of the release of methane, improved soil quality, and overall waste reduction.  However, composting must occur at appropriate locations and in an appropriate manner to avoid potential environmental problems to land surface, ground water, and air quality.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Inserting language to similarly amend section 205-2(d), Hawaii Revised Statutes, thereby allowing composting operations on all agricultural district lands, soil classifications A through E;

 

     (2)  Deleting language that referenced recycling activity and approved solid waste management activity;

 

     (3)  Requiring a special use permit for composting to ensure compliance with the Department of Agriculture pest management plan and any other land use concerns;

 

     (4)  Adding language to restrict composting on A and B classified soil to on-site uses on the lesser of one acre or ten percent of the land; and

 

     (5)  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 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. 320, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 320, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

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

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair

 

____________________________

RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair