STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1083

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 621

       H.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 Energy and Environment and Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 621, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Prohibit, progressively over a two-year time period, the manufacture and sale of personal care products that contain synthetic plastic microbeads; and

 

     (2)  Require violators to pay a fine.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, The Story of Stuff Project, Rise Above Plastics Coalition, Surfrider Foundation Hawaii Chapters, Consumer Healthcare Products Association, Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii, American Chemistry Council, and six individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that microbeads are gentle scrubbers that are added to numerous personal care products, including shampoos, soaps, and toothpastes.  Research has indicated that wastewater treatment plants are unable to filter out microbeads, and as a result microbeads pass through sewage systems and eventually enter into waterways.  Once microbeads enter the marine environment, they are impossible to remove and are a significant source of environmental degradation.  Implementation of this measure will reduce the State's production of waste and its negative impact on the environment.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environment and Commerce and Consumer Protection that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 621, H.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment and Commerce and Consumer Protection,

 

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

________________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair