Bill Text: HI SB1363 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Environmental Protection; Plastic Checkout Bags; Fee
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2012-04-13 - (H) Received notice of all Senate conferees being discharged (Sen. Com. No. 747). [SB1363 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2012-SB1363-Amended.html
STAND. COM. REP. NO. 338
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 1363
S.D. 1
Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui
President of the Senate
Twenty-Sixth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2011
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Energy and Environment and Economic Development and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 1363 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 require businesses to collect an offset fee of 25 cents for distribution of every non-reusable checkout bag and provide for the Department of Health to collect seventy-five percent of the offset fees collected to be used for administration and enforcement of the offset fees.
Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Robert Barreca, Surfrider Foundation, Oahu Chapter; Robert D. Harris, Sierra Club, Hawai‘i Chapter; Bob Loy, The Outdoor Circle; Stuart Coleman, Surfrider Foundation, Hawai‘i Chapters; Marjorie Ziegler, Conservation Council for Hawai‘i; Lee Brooke Roy, Plastic Free Hawaii; Bob Gutierrez, Times Supermarket; Susan M. Houghton, Safeway; Brad Parsons, Aloha Analytics; Mele Coleman; Noa Ching; Angela Atkins; Rachel Harvey; Nicole Lowen; Joy Leilei Shih; Tara D. Coomans; Scott Higgins; Gopal Butler; Mariya Gold; Renata Bell; Brian Bell; Roxanne Rivero; Aydee Camunas-Zlelke; Ryo Kubota; Cara B. Wilson; Jennifer Milholen; Rosalyn Young; Sandra; Charlie Taylor; Evan Manning; Elik Vodovoz; Ken Sentner; Michael Gach; Jenna Chung; Marjorie Bonar; Danielle Best; Aisha Sayed; and Ben Robinson. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from Tim Shestek, American Chemistry Council. Your Committees received comments on this measure from Lauren Zirbel, Hawaii Food Industry Association; Victor Lim, Hawaii Restaurant Association; and Carol Pregill, Retail Merchants of Hawaii.
Your Committees find that the excessive use of non-reusable checkout bags presents an unnecessary hazard to the natural environment and that the State has a compelling interest in protecting its natural environment. This measure will reduce the adverse impact of non-reusable checkout bag waste on Hawaii's natural environment by establishing an offset fee for the distribution of non-reusable checkout bags.
Your Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Specifying that the exemption for take-out from restaurants applies to prepared food, for take-out or transport from restaurants;
(2) Exempting customers who are recipients of food subsidies through the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC) or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);
(3) Changing the date upon which the businesses are to remit the fees to the Department of Health from the fifteenth day of the month to the last day of the month;
(4) Requiring businesses to submit their records of the fees collected to the Department on a quarterly basis or as directed by the Department; provided that the Department may inspect the record at its discretion at any time;
(5) Deleting the requirement that if a county has a similar ordinance that it must be as stringent in its control or prohibition as this measure;
(6) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to allow for further discussion; and
(7) 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 Energy and Environment and Economic Development and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1363, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1363, S.D. 1, 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 Economic Development and Technology,
|
____________________________ CAROL FUKUNAGA, Chair |
|
____________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair |
