STAND. COM. REP. NO. 371

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 801

       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 and Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 801 entitled:

 

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

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish notice and reporting requirements for any entity or person that uses restricted use pesticides under certain conditions.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the American Academy of Pediatrics, Planned Parenthood, IMUAlliance, and thirteen individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Maui County Farm Bureau; Hawaii Crop Improvement Association; CropLife America; Dow Agrosciences; Alexander & Baldwin, Inc.; Western Plant Health Association; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council; DuPont Pioneer; Syngenta Hawaii; Chamber of Commerce Hawaii; and three individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health, Department of Agriculture, Hawaii Pest Control Association, Monsanto Hawaii, and one individual.

 

     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 amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting its contents and replacing them with the contents of S.B. No. 797, Regular Session of 2015, which establishes notice, reporting, and use requirements for any entity or person that uses pesticides under certain circumstances; and

 

     (2)  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 and Energy and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 801, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 801, 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 and Energy and Environment,

 

____________________________

MIKE GABBARD, Chair

 

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair