Bill Text: HI HCR111 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced


Bill Title: Requesting The Department Of Health To Convene A Regional Cesspool Modernization Task Force Within Each County Of The State.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 19-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-03-28 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Souki excused (1). [HCR111 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2018-HCR111-Introduced.html

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

111

TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO CONVENE A REGIONAL CESSPOOL MODERNIZATION TASK FORCE WITHIN EACH COUNTY OF THE STATE.

 

 

 


     WHEREAS, Act 125, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017, among other provisions, required the Department of Health to investigate and report to the Legislature on:

 

     (1)  The number, scope, and location of cesspools statewide that require:

 

          (A)  An upgrade or conversion to a septic system or aerobic treatment unit system; or

 

          (B)  Connection to a sewerage system; and

 

     (2)  The priority of upgrading, converting, or connecting cesspools; and

 

     WHEREAS, in December 2017, the Department of Health submitted its report to the Legislature; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Health's report, among other findings:

 

     (1)  Noted that Hawaii has eighty-seven thousand nine hundred inventoried cesspools, which put an aggregate total of approximately fifty-three million gallons of raw sewage into the State's groundwater and surface waters every day;

 

     (2)  Estimated that the cost of upgrading, converting, or connecting each inventoried cesspool in the State could cost approximately $20,000 or more per cesspool, or $1,750,000,000 in the aggregate, with an average construction investment of $54,700,000 per year from 2018 to 2049; and

 

     (3)  Identified fourteen areas within the State, containing an aggregate total of 42,730 cesspools, as priority areas for upgrading, converting, or connecting cesspools; and

 

     WHEREAS, in its report, the Department of Health noted that issues relating to cesspools are complex and involve access to municipal sewer systems, local geology, cesspool density, receiving waters, and most-appropriate treatment technology; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2018, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Health is requested to convene a regional cesspool modernization task force within each county of the State for the purpose of investigating the feasibility and potential impacts of the department's findings and recommendations in its December 2017 report to the Legislature on cesspool replacement in light of health, safety, geographic, and economic considerations; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, at a minimum, the following individuals are requested to serve and be included as members of the regional cesspool modernization task force within each county:

 

     (1)  One representative of the Department of Health who resides in the respective county, as appointed by the Director of Health;

 

     (2)  One senator from the State Senate who resides in the respective county, as appointed by the President of the Senate;

 

     (3)  One representative from the State House of Representatives who resides in the respective county, as appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

 

     (4)  One member of the respective county council, as appointed by that county council's chair;

 

     (5)  One representative of the respective county's economic development department or office, as appointed by the head of that department or office;

 

     (6)  One representative of the respective county's agency or department that is responsible for wastewater management, as appointed by the head of that agency or department;

 

     (7)  One representative of agricultural interests who resides in the respective county, as jointly appointed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and

 

     (8)  One member of the community, as jointly appointed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of each regional cesspool modernization task force are requested to elect a chair, a vice chair, and any other necessary officers for the task force from among the members of the task force; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each regional cesspool modernization task force is requested to convene its first meeting no later than July 1, 2018; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each regional cesspool modernization task force is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature, including any proposed legislation, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2019; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each regional cesspool modernization task force cease to exist on June 30, 2020; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health; the President of the Senate; the Speaker of the House of Representatives; the chair of each county council; the Executive Director of the Office of Economic Development, City and County of Honolulu; the Director of the Office of Economic Development, County of Maui; the Director of the Department of Research and Development, County of Hawaii; the Director of the Office of Economic Development, County of Kauai; the Director of the Department of Environmental Services, City and County of Honolulu; the Division Chief of the Wastewater Reclamation Division of the Department of Environmental Management, County of Maui; the Division Chief of the Wastewater Division of the Department of Environmental Management, County of Hawaii; and the County Engineer of the Department of Public Works, County of Kauai.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

DOH; Cesspools; Upgrades; Conversions; Connections; Task Forces

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