Bill Text: HI HB1859 | 2020 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Relating To Environmental Protection.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 24-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2020-03-16 - The hearing on this measure has been cancelled until further notice. [HB1859 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2020-HB1859-Amended.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
1859 |
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THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020 |
H.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that pollution from cesspools is harming public health in the State. Currently, there are roughly eighty-eight thousand cesspools that are contaminating streams, oceans, ground water, drinking water, and marine areas around the State. Additionally, the lack of adequate sewer capacity has led to massive sewage discharges into the ocean following heavy rains and has prevented the development of new affordable housing in the urban core.
The legislature further finds that new waste management solutions could greatly improve public health. Technologies that are reaching a commercial scale for the first time include solutions for individual homes, as well as multi-unit dwellings, apartment buildings, and entire communities. Self-contained, self-powered, and self-cleaning toilets can be used in homes that do not have the capacity to connect to the existing sewer infrastructure. Large waste management systems can remove sewage from multi-unit dwellings and apartment buildings. At the municipal scale, these technologies can effectively treat sewage from entire communities for a small fraction of the cost of existing technology now employed in Hawaii. Employing these technologies can preserve local water quality and protect our environment.
Act 132, Session Laws of Hawaii 2018, established the cesspool conversion working group and tasked it with developing a long-range, comprehensive plan for cesspool conversion statewide and with considering methods by which the department of health can ensure that cesspools are converted into more environmentally-responsible waste treatment systems. The legislature believes that funding a pilot project that reviews available waste management technologies across different topographies in Hawaii will assist the working group and the department of health with the objectives of Act 132.
The purpose of this Act is to establish and fund a new waste management solution pilot project to demonstrate new toilet and sewage treatment technologies and to expedite demonstration projects.
SECTION 2. (a) There is established a new waste management solution pilot project to be conducted by the University of Hawaii water resources research center.
(b) The pilot project shall:
(1) Review and demonstrate new toilet and sewage treatment technologies at different scales and in different locations across the State; and
(2) Examine and implement a range of technologies, from individual toilets to significantly larger multi-unit systems, as well as examine options for community-scale solutions as appropriate.
(c) The University of Hawaii water resources research center shall expedite demonstration projects conducted as part of the pilot project.
SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2020-2021 for the purpose of implementing the new waste management solution pilot project.
The sum appropriated shall be expended by the University of Hawaii for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION
4. The University of Hawaii water
resources research center shall submit a report on the status of the new waste
management solution pilot project, including its findings, recommendations, and
any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to
the convening of the regular sessions of
2021 and 2022.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050, and shall be repealed on June 30, 2022.
Report Title:
University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center; Environmental Protection; Pilot Project; Appropriation
Description:
Establishes a 3-year pilot project by the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center to demonstrate new toilet and sewage treatment technologies and to expedite demonstration projects. Appropriates funds. Effective 7/1/2050. Repeals on 6/30/2022. (HD1)
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
