Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Environment

Calling the Committee on Health and Human Services and the Committee on Agriculture and Environment. Joint Hearing for 1:00 pm this meeting is being. Present with me is co chair Mike Gabbard, Senator Gabbard as well as Senator Rhodes. This meeting is being streamed live on YouTube.

In the unlikely event that we have to abruptly end this hearing due to technical difficulties, the Committee will reconvene to discuss any outstanding business on Friday, March 14, 2025, 1:00 pm in this room, room 225. For those on Zoom, your audio will be muted and video disabled until shortly before it is your turn to testify.

Each testify will have one minute to testify, so please be brief. We have a lot to hear. If there's a technical glitch during your time to testify, we may have to move on to the next person due to time constraints. I will be reading a list of individuals who submitted written testimony for each measure.

We apologize if the closed captioning does not accurately transcribe the names. If you're interested in reviewing the written testimony, please go to the Legislator's website. You'll find a link on the status page for the measure. We appreciate your understanding and remind you that the community does have your testimony that I reviewed.

So I encourage you to use your time to either add additional comments or stand on your written testimony. First up, we have HB256HD2 relating to environmental protection. For this we have Department of Health and support. Thank you. Next we have Frasier Block for Reworld in support. Come on up.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Chair Gabbard, thank you very much. Frasier Block from Reworld. I submitted written testimony and I stand on my testimony. But I did want to draw your attention to a media release today from the EPA saying that today was the announced the day of deregulation by the federal EPA.

So this bill would ensure that the standards that are now in place for waste to energy facilities, specifically, you know, the H power facility on the island, will stay intact regardless of whether the EPA backtracks on any air or solid waste regulations. And also if they, if the state wants to go more stringent, okay, that's okay too.

But we just don't want to backslide.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, next up, we have Mike Ewal, Energy justice network providing comments. Mr. You all, are you present on Zoom?

Yes, I am pleased to have Mike Ewal with Energy Justice Network. We support this bill, but recognize that the bill basically just maintains the status quo. Even if the Federal Government were to weaken the standards, the state already has the authority to keep stronger standards.

And so the potential loophole in the bill is already fixed on the House side. What we would encourage you to do is fix the existing problem with the current regulations that allows the two older burners, the 35 year old two older burners that they have to be missing half of their pollution control devices.

They have no controls in place for controlling nitrogen oxides that trigger asthma attacks and no controls in place to reduce the most toxic chemicals like dioxins and mercury. The third burner at the plant has these. About 90% of other incinerators in the country also has these. But the old ones don't.

And we would love to see the standards that hole plugged by the state so that they put in the controls that should protect all of residents in the state. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next we have Ted Boland, Climate Protectors of I in support. Thank you very much. Melody Aduja, Environment Caucus of the Democratic Party for body in support. Michael Becker in support. Robert Culbertson Support. Mary Tu in support. Diane Ware in support. Fred Hoffer in support. Janice Paul McGlenny in support. Catherine Fryer in support.

Anybody else wishing to testify? HB256 okay, come on up. You have one minute. Angela.

Angela Melody Young cares testifying in strong support. So why should we care about pollution and how does it harm our health? Pollution is an introduction of harmful substances into the air, water or land. And these substances called pollutants can be natural or man made. Pollution causes damage to the environment and health.

So it is necessary to monitor the pollution produced by trash from the waste incineration facilities design. And as we examine the environmental impact statement for North Atlantic Incineration Site design is a federal compliance guide for what we're talking about in this Bill, which is the municipal trash design.

So for example, you wouldn't want to design something that is flawed. For example, if you're going to design a nursery outside of the guidelines of a standard design, it'd be very bad if there were bad things in the nursery and causes harm to the baby. Right. So yes.

So present with us we have Vice Chair Senator Aquino, Vice Chair Senator Richards, also Senator Hashimoto, Senator Favella and Senator Decoy. Anybody else wishing to testify in HB 256 Members, any questions? Seeing none. Moving on, HB 734 relaying to wastewater systems. First up we have Department of Hawaiian Homelands in support. Thank you very much.

Next we have Department of Health in support. Thank you. Hawaii Realtors Lindsay Garcia in support. Thank you. Nature Conservancy in support. Kim Polinsky. Thank you. Next we have Stuart Coleman of Y Wastewater Alternatives and Innovation and support. Thank you. Next we have Ted Boland and Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition in support. Come on up.

Thank you. Chair Gabbard, Vice chairs, Members of the Committee, Ted Boland on behalf of the Yu Reef and Ocean Coalition. This is the first of three bills we have before these committees currently. They're all designed to save costs because we recognize how expensive cesspools are upgrading. So we are working toward things that will make it less expensive.

This one is about the rules, we think. I worked on the rules 10 years ago when they were written, and it's about time to update them and to see what has been done in other jurisdictions that might save costs. Strong support for this Bill. Available for questions. Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you very much. Next we have Melody Aduja, Environmental Caucus of Democratic Party of Hawaiian in support. Hannah Lindley, Surfrider Foundation, Hawaii Region, in support. Lynn Miyahira, Public Access to sunscreens in support. Betty Skolnick in support. Robin Knox in support. Sina Pruder in support. Douglas Perrin in support. Christina Comfort in support. Marie Coquin in support.

Anybody else wishing to testify in HB 734? Ma' am. Okay, come on up, Angela.

Aloha, Angela Melody Young cares in strong support. So the bill is very thoughtful and considerate. It lists, I think, the county's office. Yeah. Or the third item, the counties. And also the University of Hawaii, because the University of Hawaii performs the study for water quality and the counties has the infrastructure to carry out the wastewater systems plan.

Right. So it requires collaboration. And this was a very ambitious goal in 2017 when Governor Igay signed the act to. To mandate that these cesspools convert and be transformed and upgraded.

But then it's like, okay, you thought of the plan, but then can we collaborate and actually talk to the offices and figure out what's working, what's not working? Because now there are all these other resos that had to be considered.

Thank you very much. Anybody else wishing testifying? HB734 Members, any questions?

Question for DOH.

Senator DeCoite. Department of Health. Come on up.

So I just want to ask you, you guys have any current rules and practices that can be changed to make wastewater systems and cesspool upgrades more affordable without compromising water quality?

Anjan Nagato, Department of Health, Wastewater Branch I. I'm not aware of it. From a financial standpoint, we focus on the technical output of the technology. So, you know, we use Certain National Sanitation foundation criteria, things like that, to make sure that the water quality is good. Cost price, market price is not a component of that.

We leave that up to the market to decide.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Okay. Any other questions? Okay, Senator Fevella, go on.

So you guys, opposition with comments. So the one over here with the comments talking about the education and stuff like this. So what I tried to get at is because right now the city and most of the community want to make my community to be the process of eliminating our cesspools.

But what I don't get yet, and I didn't get it from you guys, should I ask even the city what is actually the scientific data that's showing that our cesspools need to be upgraded? In my district, we're about 10 miles, 15 miles away from the nearest aquifer or water table water source.

Even the Ocean and Clean Water act said that our cesspools in the area is not causing that hazard to quality of water. So we wanted to know why was us, our community was the reason. Because it was easier, because we have a treatment plan, low ground, but we're not contaminating the ocean.

Shouldn't this be a quality of water issue that they should be going after the ones that is contaminating the water instead of making us go through all of this. Even the one that I was kind of concerned about, that the city even said the Deport, excuse me, wastewater. You know what they said?

Families in my community has spent 40 to 60 $1000 to put a septic tank because they had an extended family and they put in another restroom and shower, it cost them 30,000 to put in the shower. And out of 60,000 for the septic tank, you know what the Department of City Council said?

zero, sorry, it's still going to have to tighten to the sewer. This is the kind of stuff that, you know, we gotta all get on the same page, the city and the state, because my community is gonna suffer. Majority of my community in this district is 70, 70 years old.

They're not gonna even afford even if we try to make it affordable. And in some of the areas, they say they have no more sidewalk to convert. All of Elvis state has sidewalks, underground wiring. How are you gonna put in a sewer past their driveway when they have underground wiring?

All of those things takes into consideration the cost and the labor. Back in the day when they would, they would trick us into doing them. Yeah, if we could do our own labor, fill up the cesspool, tie the lines into the Main have a licensed plumber do them. Cannot do that. Now there's all kinds of new laws.

So that's the question. So why can't we all get together? Because it's going to cost people way more money than what they're thinking it's going to cost.

So let me reframe. Yeah, please. Thank you. Okay. Regarding. Because this rule the bill refers to rules and regulations to make it cheaper I believe center from Eva wants the Department of Health to consider whether or not certain areas of the state like EWA. Yes.

Where the cesspools do not affect the water, the water table or the ocean, whether or not rules and regulations could take that into account and reduce their expenses to possibly be zero. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Is that something to be considered when you look through your rules and regulations?

Not this bill. It actually was looked at and then will be looked at. So when they did the assessable working group, whole state was looked at at large and accessible working group.

One of the outputs besides the report was the assessable prioritization tool which they had the cesspool working group Committee put together metrics to determine what priority level cesspool should be ranked at. And then they did that by district and you can read about that in the report and on the Cesspool Prioritization tool website with SEA Grant.

And uh. And then there's also a bill last year that passed for uh, to add an additional layer to kind of talk about. What you're talking about is going into how they're going to implement these sewer implementation.

And I can't speak for the city and county or any of the counties, but that's kind of the idea is they identify the cesspools by priority. Now they have to identify where can be sewer. Get that conversation going because that is the topic.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Any other questions? Chair, Follow up. Okay, Senator, DeCoite.

So in that case, if they are not sitting over an aquifer or near an ocean, is there a possibility for an exemption for those that are not impacting water resource?

So you said it's sitting over an aquifer or near the ocean? Yeah, I mean they might not be over an aquifer, but then the ocean they have to be considered a body of water streams down grade, everything's down, always downgrade the water and the wastewater has to go somewhere.

So okay, so you put septic tank in the septic get leech line. What is the difference between the leech. Line off of that septic versus the cesspool?

If it Is leaching has the, has the septic tank in between. The disposal system used to be called a leach field or an absorption bed. That's just a disposal system. So just the place where the water hydraulically is going to go down. But it's a lot cleaner than cesspool wastewater, which is untreated, basically raw.

Okay, so let's go back to the bill regarding rules and practices to make it cheaper.

So taking into account Senator DeCoite's concerns, will you, if this bill passes, and it looks like it will, with the $150,000 that you request, will you be able to coordinate with the various counties and the districts to take into account their concerns regarding the prioritization so that it'll be cheaper for. For them?

Yes.

Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Concerns? Okay, Senator Rhoads. And we have also Senator Koehokalole present.

Thanks. So, I mean, I guess it feels to me like this is sort of overlapping with this whole question of where to put a new dump. And after having sat through info briefings. On that, it doesn't seem like there's anywhere on Oahu anywhere where you're not. Affecting an aquifer or the ocean. So I mean, how much?

It just doesn't feel like there's really. Much wiggle room there.

Okay, so to reframe the question.

No, you don't have to reframe the question. Is there any wiggle room, wiggle room. In our rules in terms of where we could place. A cesspool that's not. Going to affect groundwater or the ocean?

I don't believe there's going to be wiggle room for a cesspool. I think they're looking for either technological or one of the specific things is dwelling count. So they have a bill for that separately. But that's kind of just as an example what they're thinking us kind of looking at rules that may be allowing faster or. Okay.

Okay, thanks.

Thanks, Chairs. I just want to make sure we're back to the question of rules and practices that would make it cheaper for upgrades. Any comments? I mean, any other questions regarding this specific bill? Okay, seeing that. Moving on. We've got a number of bills here and we need to end by 3:30. So.

So HB 735 relating to wastewater. First up, Department of Health providing comments. Thank you. Next we have County Clerk Council Services Division and support Ka Ho County of Kai Planning Department in support. Lindsay Garcia, Hawaii Realtors and support Joel Guy Hanalei Initiative and support. Joel, are you present on Zoom?

Please stand on our testimony. Thank you very much for the opportunity and strong support.

Thank you very much for being efficient. Stuart Coleman, WAI Wastewater Alternatives and Innovations in support.

Yes, we'll stand on testimony and support.

Thank you. Ted Kaphalas, Grassroots Institute of Hawaii in support. Sina Pruder in opposition. Lois Crozer providing comments. Hermina Morita in support. Michael Becker in support. Betsy Skolnick in support. Robin Knox in support. Christina Comfort in support. Mariko Quinn in support. Anybody else wishing testify on HB735? Okay, Angela, you have one minute.

Angela Melody Young in strong support. So. So this would allow the individual wastewater system to serve up to five bedrooms regardless of a number of accessory dwelling units with certain exclusions.

So in the discussion from Department of Environmental Services, from the county's office, they went over the revised Ordinance of Hawaii Chapter 14, which provides instructions for the City Council, which a resolution must be requested by the mayor to furnish surveys, maps, plans and drawings as this was a topic discussed in the Ewa Beach District for a concern very similar to this Bill.

So I think this is a really good idea. Yet also to be considerate of the county's process, there should be more consultation for waste water management systems to integrate the plants. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anybody else wishing testifying HB735 Members? Any questions? Chair okay, Senator Richards, Department of Health, come on up.

What was the reasoning to limiting households on a septic system? And where I'm going with the question is old style, plantation style. We had gang cesspools and looking for housing for agriculture. If we had a collection of tiny homes, was there a reasoning for a number of limiting households on a septic system?

And that's where it says bedrooms rather than households. Is there a reasoning that you're aware of?

It was my understanding that it's a density issue. You don't want to put too many dwellings on an individual wastewater system because as you add more and more dwellings persistent, you're getting more towards like a centralized treatment plan.

But isn't the other side of that coin is if we have these giant households of 10 or 15 bedrooms that do exist, are they governed by the same rules?

Yes, but then they're limited to five bedrooms each dwelling.

Okay, so what we're doing here is just removing, say five dwellings with the same number of bedrooms.

Five bedrooms maximum, on one individual wastewater system. You could break that up with two dwellings, three bedrooms, two bedrooms, four bedrooms, one bedroom. But you can't have three dwellings currently.

This would allow us to have five dwellings if we have one bedroom in each dwelling. Correct. Yeah. Okay. Because again trying to get housing for agriculture. Thanks.

Thank you very much. Anybody else wishing test I mean any other questions on HB735?

Again, quick question. Chair so say if you have three bedrooms. But but each bedroom get 20 people living in one.

Right.

How do you justify the usage now?

Can't. That's why our rules aren't like that. Our rules are governed by bedrooms. We know reality. That's why we don't we don't push individual wastewater systems. You know centralized regional treatment plan is better because that goes the capital count isn't is in the bedroom. But so we don't know demographic numbers of everybody's house. So we know reality.

Yeah. Just because of the multifamily so trying to figure out. Thank you. Thank you Chair.

Okay. Thank you. Any any other questions on HB 735? Okay, moving on. HB 879 relaying successful conversions. First up we have. Excuse me, Department of Health in support.

Thank you Chair. Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, the Department stands on its written testimony but we would like to clarify that a separate bill, HB 749 had a cesspool conversion section with positions but it may have not been clear that that wasn't heard yet.

So we want to make it clear in order to run this grant program we need three full time positions and if that needs to be added back into this bill because it was originally there and was removed in place of that other bill which can get a little confusing.

We're just trying to make it clear that in order to run the the grant program we need full time positions. In very full time position. Correct. And then as as you can see in our written testimony we outlined what that those people would be doing in that bill because we already. Thank you very much.

Okay next Department Hawaiian Homelands in support. Okay next Ted Boland, Hawaiian Reef and Ocean Coalition in support.

Thank you Chair. Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Ted Boland, Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition and strong support. This is the second of the bills I referred to that are about making it more affordable for homeowners. This is for low and moderate income homeowners who live in priority 1 and 2 areas and are upgrading their cesspools.

They can do that and a bill raises the amount from 20 to 30,000 at least in one version of it because it's more expensive than $20,000. Most places to upgrade it's very local, depends very much on your location. But it can be more expensive and so it's appropriate to raise the maximum amount.

I would say with regard to the grant program and the separate section of the Department of Health, there's a need for both those things. The grants are already started with the act from 2022. Lots of applications come in. We need people to monitor those.

In the future, we will need a separate section of the Department of Health to monitor the all of the, to administer all of this program because we've got 83,000 cesspools that are going to need upgrading by 2050 and you're going to need people for that. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Next we have Kim Polinsky, Nature Conservancy in support.

Hello everyone. Kim Polinsky. And strong support from the Nature Conservancy. I just collect a lot of the water quality data and we really see the impact into our groundwater ecosystems, our coastal ecosystems. So as somebody who's collecting that data. I just want to make sure that.

As our testimony said, me personally, who gets to see the data, sees how bad things are. And we appreciate your support in finding ways anyways to make this better. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next we have Stuart Coleman, why Wastewater Alternatives and Innovations. In support.

I will stand on a written testimony and just add that like the Department of Health said, we're going to really need that other bill, a 3749 to administer those grants. And the program was very successful before when they listed it, it was all gone. Had so many applicants within one week.

So we hope we just relaunch the pilot.

Thank you very much. Next we have Lindsey Garcia, Hawaii Realtors in support. Melda Duha, Environmental Caucus of Democratic Party Hawaii in support. Lyn Miahira, Public Access to Sunscreens in support. Eileen Hilton, Winward Coalition in support. Douglas Perrin in support. Nancy Taylor in support. Michael Becker in support. Betsy Skolnick in support. Kevin Fasenda in support. Christina Comfort in support.

Marika Quinn in support. Anybody else wishing testifying HB879? Come on up, Angela. We have one minute.

Aloha, Angela Melody Young Care is in strong support of the pilot program and the appropriation of funds. So this comes out at a really good time when the county's office are debating their budget. So it's really good timing, especially if there are plans to take a peek at all those line items at the county's office.

And yeah, just to be in sync with the workflow. And so, you know, in the State of Hawaii, the DOH, the wastewater branch oversees and permits all on site wastewater systems. But Then it's a county's office, the Department of Environmental Services, which connects the sewer lines and does the hard work of connecting the pipes and everything else.

So it's really good to have good timing on things. So in strong support.

Thank you very much. Anybody else wishing testify on HBH 79 Members, any questions? Okay.

Sandra Richards, Conservancy, Nature Conservancy. Kim. You piqued my interest when you said you're actually collecting the data. Can you share that data with us?

I can, absolutely.

If you get it to the chairs, they'll share with the committees. Thank you.

Sure. Thank you. Any other questions on HB879? Okay, I do. Department of Health, come on up. So we were not hearing the other Bill because it wasn't part of the Department of Health's priorities regarding number of full time employees. This one, regarding your testimony, it doesn't say how much the grant is. It remains blank.

How much grants are you folks? It used to be 20,000 that was removed and there's no testimony as to the maximum amount of grant. Is it still going to be 20,000?

I didn't draft this, but if you were asking me, I think it's safe to just continue that because it's going to cause. They initially tried to increase it, I think and might cause a little confusion to people.

Well, nobody has testified as to the maximum amount of grants, so it remains blank. So can we put down that Department of Health is suggesting a continuation of 20,000? Yes. Thank you. Second thing, there remains a blank amount here also for the revenues for the, I guess the three FTEs you want.

How much or will you be able to provide that or WAM.

I can provide that. I can write it to you guys immediately after this and I can provide it to WAM.

Okay, thank you. Yes. Okay. Any other questions? Okay, seeing none. Moving on. Next up, HB918 relating to labeling. First up, we have, I think Department of Health providing comments.

Good afternoon, Chairs, Vice chairs, Matt Carano, Department of Health, Environmental Health Services Division. We stand on our written comments. I just want to highlight though this one is that as kind of said in other testimonies, the labeling of non flushable for wipes is not a national requirement.

So if it's going to be a statewide requirement, it requires as states that have levels of effort to be able to enforce it, do outreach. We're not opposed to anything that shouldn't be going down the drain that causes sewer spills. But we would be requesting like in our testimony, a couple positions in order to Implement this.

Thank you very much. Available for questions.

Thank you very much. Next we have Craig Kawaguchi County, Hawaii Department of Environmental Management and support. Tina Yamaki, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, in opposition. Tina. Tina, are you present on Zoom?

Not present on Zoom. Chair.

Okay. Lindsey Garcia, Hawaii Realtors in support. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Household and Commercial Products Association providing comments. Christopher Finarelli, next, Association of Non Woven Fabrics Industry. Wes Fisher in support. Wes Fisher, are you present? Please proceed.

Yes. Thank you. Chair Good afternoon, Senators. Wes Fisher. I'm the Director of Government Affairs for INDA, the Association of the Non Woven Fabrics Industry. We'll stand on our written testimony. Just want to. We represent wipes manufacturers in the wipes industry. We're supportive of this legislation. This represents collaboration between the wastewater industry and wipes manufacturers.

This legislation or legislation very similar to it has passed in seven states to date. We did have one small recommendation around the deadline to apply the label for FIFRA wipes. So disinfecting wipes. Other than that, happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much. Next we have Ted bowl and Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition in support. Thank you. Meldia Duha, Environmental Caucus of Democratic Party Hawaii in support. Robin Knox in support. Michael Becker in support. Stuart Cullman in support.

The gentleman said this is a rare occasion when you have the industry and regulators.

Thank you very much. Anybody else switching testifying HB918 Members. Any questions?

I got one.

Okay. Senator Richards, please proceed.

I guess it's going to be for environmental management, departmental management.

Afternoon Senator.

Good afternoon. Thanks for coming up. I get that this is a good idea, but to your point about how do we enforce it since it's a state, not a national, and at what cost and I don't even know how to enforce what's going in the sewer. I mean.

So though I think it's a great idea and I agree it's industry and the public coming together. I'm not sure that funding positions is going to be beneficial to the state. The idea is great, but I don't see how this is going to work. Any comment?

Yeah. Thank you. Matt Kranow, Department of Health Environmental Services. That's exactly the concern we have. I think once it becomes nationalized, you know, I think that'll kind of somewhat take care of itself. It's a great idea. It's wonderful when the wastewater industry and the, you know, the product producer agree.

I think in principle, we really do agree with it. We have serious concerns over different versions of the drafts too, about enforcement, particularly when ultimately comes back to the manufacturer to be adding labels. And then what leverage abilities do we have? You know, we don't want to be removing products that people need from shelves locally.

We also think that in the majority is that the county level issues since they run the county wastewater treatment plants now, public outreach and campaigns, just like no food oil down the drain, it's similar in that it causes in fact they clog together. Right. Fatbergs.

So public outreach is really important and I think when the time comes, hopefully that there's a national bill passed, I think it'll take care of resource issue about making this happen.

So one of the asks were if this were to go forward, then we would want positions to help with the outreach and coordination of all the counties as well as the individual wastewater system systems because those are ultimately pumped right. And taken to the regional wastewater treatment plane. So that's that.

Those are the difficulties we foresee as well.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any other questions? Okay. Okay. Senator Keohokalole.

First, thank you for the lobbyist on Zoom, Non-Woven Fabrics Industry.

Okay. Mr. Wes Fisher.

Yes, thank you. Okay, you have a question. Thank you for your testimony. Why don't you guys just put the label on your products now?

So this legislation is passed in seven states. So effectively every covered product within this definition that's in this bill or all seven states, you should see full compliance. Any product that's currently labeled flushable would not fall under this definition.

It does not contain plastic and it meets a standard to prove that it does what it says it's going to do. I link to a few sources in my testimony.

I guess your association is made up of members who produce flushable products.

Our Members produce both types of wipes. Of the wipes industry, probably 85 to 90% of products of wipes products are non flushable. So things like baby wipes, disinfecting wipes.

So I guess again, why don't you just put the label on now?

I would just reiterate the label is for the most part already on any. I would be surprised if any covered product on shelves anywhere in the US does not have that label applied as California was the first state to pass this back in 2021.

So why do we need the bill?

Well, it would give you the opportunity to enforce the legislation and it also provides that not just have a label, but there is a provision that any wipe that is a covered product.

So a wipe that is either marketed as a baby or diapering wipe or a wipe that is made with plastic based fibers, cannot legally be referred to marketed as a flushable wipe. So that would give your state that enforcement power. I will add, I think the gentleman from the Department of Health stated that mentioned a national effort.

We have been working hard with our friends in the wastewater industry on a national bill called the WIPPES Act, the Wastewater Infrastructure Pollution Prevention and Environmental Safety Act. We love our acronyms here in D.C. and that measure did pass the U.S. House with wide bipartisan support last year.

We failed to get it through Committee in time, but we're planning to reintroduce that next week. So I'd additionally encourage anyone from Hawaii who's watching to urge their Members of Congress to co sponsor that piece of legislation. All right, thank you.

Thank you. Do you have any questions?

Department of Health Afternoon center yeah, similar. To Senator Richard, but again, reinforcement. And then even like these flushables, who's gonna regulate them? Because I'm gonna let you know, most of the flushables that I know in my community, Steve's plumbing, have a lot of work because it plugs up the plumbing really bad.

And when I went out there to investigate that, they said, I thought it was regular baby wipes. They said, no. So it is the flushables and the flushables and plug it into the system. So how, again, we're going to regulate that? I mean, how.

Who's going to be able to come out to a property, I guess, and say, hey, Steve plummet gonna give you a bill and say, hey, this was caused by who's gonna enforce it? That's the part that I concern about.

That's what they need the money for.

Or you need the money for that? Well, so can I apply for that job then? I want to be the police.

Senator Matt Carrado Department of Health Department Health Services we don't really want to be the come to your house enforcement officer asking what happened to your baby wipe? But that is a legitimate question. And I do think in many respects people will put things down the drain that they think they can put down the drain.

And if some things say flushable, but they really still probably shouldn't go down the drain. And so a big part is really education. So all of your communities should have seen like food, oil and grease. Right, like. And I think. But those are largely county efforts under existing kind of regulatory frameworks.

So we don't like to kick the can, especially when Legislature believes that, you know, this is something we should be mandated to do. So we'd be willing. But we, like I said, you know, there are serious concerns about it because it's more of an awareness issue than it like a perfect product. Product that immediately dissolves. Right.

It's like compost equipment. So that takes a level of effort. It generally impacts, generally at the county level. But you're right, individual homeowners plugging plugs and, you know, condo associations, we're aware of all of that too. But we would not like to be the come to your house regulator and be checking for your wipes. Thank you.

Any other questions? Seeing none. Okay, moving on. Next up, it is relating to Avian Influenza, HB 1427. First up, we have Disease Outbreak Control Division, Department of Health and support. Thank you very much. Department of Agriculture and support. Thank you very much. Jack Lewin, State Shipta, in support.

Yes. Chair and Members, we stand on our written testimony. In support.

Thank you very much. Okay. DLNR in support. Thank you very much. Andrew Crossland, Hawaii Patriot Republicans in opposition. Margaret Meija, Hawaii Christian Coalition, in opposition. Come on up.

Aloha. My name is Margaret Mejia. I'm here on behalf of Hawaii Christian Coalition. We have, I'm representing about 130,000 people today on all islands. Although this Bill does, we strongly oppose HB 1427 for the following reasons.

Although this Bill doesn't mention vaccines, we can follow the money to discover that the end of passing this Bill may result in our taxpayer dollars going towards Avian bird flu vaccines. Since most people, since some people believe that vaccines are a preventative measure or a response to Avian influenza.

The five companies that are currently developing Avian flu vaccines all contain MRNA in their vaccines. And Dr. Robert Malone, he's a biochemist and biologist who created the MRNA technology, said that that changes people's DNA. Let's see, some of the people that are in Hawaii Christian Coalition do not support vaccines at all.

Others who do support vaccines personally also support people's choice to vaccinate or not. And to wrap up, although the DoH website says the bird flu in Hawaii remains low risk. And there's also policy where they if one bird out of a thousand or million, however many they have, has bird flu, they kill all of them.

And it's through a horrific preference practice called foam depopulation.

Thank you very much. Next we have Lauren Zurbo, Hawaii Food Industry Association and support Lauren Zurbal, are you present on zoom?

Not present on zoom.

Chair Brian Miyamoto, Hawaii Farm Bureau, in support. Jill Yoshi Saido, Doctor of Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association and support. Nicole Galassi, Hawaii. Commence Council in support. Nicole, are you present on zoom, please. Nicole, are you.

Yes, sir.

Please proceed.

Thank you. Chair, Vice chairs, Members of the committees, Nicole Galassi. On behalf of the Hawaii Academy's council, we stand on our testimony in support. Mahalo.

Thank you very much. Next we have Cheryl Toyofuku in opposition. Cheryl, come on up.

Aloha, Senators. My name is Cheryl Toyofuko. I'm a mom, I'm a grandmother, I'm a retired registered nurse. 30 years ago, I did transition to more natural, non toxic health care. I'm in strong opposition to this bill because it still has a blank appropriation amount, although the Health Committee when it went through that, it was $3,300,000 to $4,700,000.

This was also verified by Chair Greg Kakayama in the Health and Chair Kristen Kahaloa. And many do not agree with the Department of Health response to viruses, including influenza. So funds are being questionably appropriate. And some agriculture disease spreading practices, toxic load and chickens and other migratory birds, along with disturbing poultry culling policy, should be revisited instead.

Whether it's the Avian flu, the swine flu, the monkeypox, the measles trumpeted by government, state departments, some industrial complexes and media, these hyped and alarming fears, okay. Are perpetuated in the dissemination of public health information. And you know, it's just a collaboration. And many of these do profit greatly. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Brett Kulbis in opposition. Brett Colbus, are you present on Zoom? Please proceed.

Yes. Yes, ma' am. Thank you, Madam Chair. Stand by Chair Gabbard and Committee Members. My name is Brett Kulbis. I'm a 26 year Navy veteran. I live in Eva Beach. I oppose HB 1427 about Avian flu and Venza Avian influenza. This bill's premature and potentially wasteful taxpayer dollars.

As of January 2025, only one case of H5N1 has been confirmed in Hawaii. Subsequent monitoring, including water testing on other islands, has suggested the possible presence of the virus, but has not resulted in additional confirmed cases of birds, humans or other animals in Hawaii. Current risk to the public is considered low with no human human transmission reported.

Instead of broad appropriation, we should focus on targeted measures. Enhance existing biosecurity protocols and farms and ports. Educate the public in prevention and reporting. Strengthen our current surveillance system. These steps can be accomplished within existing departmental budgets. Appropriation lacks. Yes, ma' am.

The proposed appropriation lacks specificity, specificity on how funds will be used and could divert resources for more pressing health and agricultural needs. I urge you to vote 1427.

Next we have Terry Armbruster in opposition. Terry, come on up.

I am Terry and I oppose HB 1427 because the Department of Health is asking for millions of dollars without even presenting a viable plan to monitor, prevent and respond to a possible bird flu outbreak.

And the current practice right now on the mainland is if one bird or one chicken gets sick, they kill the whole flock and then they pay the farmer and then repeat the process over and over. So this is not an effective way. And it's been shown that it does not stop the spread.

And now you're just decreasing our food supply and increasing the egg prices. And also there are proposing some vaccines, but these are experimental right now. And since like any flu virus, the virus can mutate, so no amount of vaccines can keep up with the different strains.

So that is not going to stop the spread or possible outbreaks either. And also I want to say that natural immunity, focus on natural immunity. Not mass killing, mass vaccination, but natural immunity and more healthy practices to protect our chickens and protect our food supply.

Thank you very much. Next we have Mary Healy, also in opposition. Mary, are you present on zoom?

Not present on Zoom chair.

Okay, next we have Douglas Perrin and support. And now we also have 47 people all in opposition, three people in support. Anybody else wishing to testify on HB 1427? Angela, you have one minute.

Angela Melody Young, testifying. Neutral. Just a brief comment. So at the Hawaii State Capitol, we hear a lot about like scary things instead of solutions focused on, on positive pathways.

So I'm not sure if it's necessary to Fund a bird flu mitigation plan, but for us, my mom has a chick sanctuary at home and I get eggs fresh like every single day.

So if there could be a plan for people to learn to manage a chick sanctuary and then to produce eggs and to kind of create awareness about natural pathways for like just creating a sustainable food supply and generating funds for middle class families with helping with economic development of an egg industry.

Thank you very much, Angela.

It could be more helpful.

Department of Ag. Dr. Mehta.

Chair.

Anybody else wishing Tesla and HB 1427 Members? Any questions?

Okay, Senator Richards.

Isaac Mehta, Department of Agriculture.

Yeah, Dr. Mehta, can you just touch on, there's been some references to depopulation for managing disease outbreaks. Can you touch on that? And the protocol that we use nationally to address that?

Yeah, USDA's protocol is to, as they call it, stamp out, which is to try and drastically reduce the load of virus. Because what happens when you get infected flock is you get tremendous amounts of virus. Now when a flock of chickens gets infected with this virus in General situation is that the entire flock is going to die.

So the depopulation or euthanasia of the flock is actually in a sense preemptive because otherwise it's just gonna, they're gonna, most of them are gonna die anyway pretty rapidly, usually less than 24 hours. It's pretty, pretty nasty stuff to have to deal with in a laying facility.

So from that standpoint, that's the reason why USDA initially, they actually talked about walking back from doing that, trying to see if there were other options. But I think recently the Secretary of Agriculture came out and said vaccines isn't really an option for them and they're still going to have to do the control of disease by eliminating.

And we had that one case on actually on this island. The sequela to that, the post on that one is have we had any further outbreaks?

Not that we've been able to document. There hasn't been any reports. And all the birds that we've tested subsequently that have died, including, you know, feral chickens that got turned in and what have you, were all negative.

Okay, thank you, Chair, follow up. Thanks, Dr. Mehta. Okay, who else do you want to talk?

Department of Health? Department of Health.

Hi, Senator.

Hi. Identify yourself.

Hi, my name is Nathan Tan. I'm the deputy chief in the Disease Outbreak Control Division.

Okay, thank you. Just can you touch on the zoonotic concerns with the high path Avian Influenza and co monitoring between Department of Health and Department of Aggression?

I think the specific zoonotic concern is that it's an infection in the animal population in which there is an interface with the human population. Certainly people are around birds and animals and it continues to spread. The risk right now I think is really for those that work around birds as well as dairy herds as well.

And our concern on the human side is that the more the virus is spreading, the more chance for it to evolve and for that transmission to increase and to spread within the human population. So that's our biggest concern. I did want to just add one clarifying point. The request for funds do not have any request for vaccination.

This is really to enhance our current response and to be able to have some funds in case there was an outbreak in a setting such as a poultry operation, which would require a lot of resource to respond.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Thank you for the clarification. Any other questions on HB 1427?

Chair, follow up with DOH, please.

Okay, Senator, Decoy, you need to come back the. zero.

So. So your testimony stated that you needed between 3.3 million to 4.7 million to prevent monitoring response to Avian influenza in Hawaii. How are you able to respond to the threat now?

Well, we do have resources that are in place that we use to respond to the various threats that we face in terms of the infectious disease threats for Hawaii.

That being said, you know, this is a new threat and the ability for it to evolve and oppose a significant threat such as what we've seen in Covid is certainly there. I think the best. I think our history has taught us that getting resources in place, particularly funds available to be able to respond, is important.

Okay, so how much did it cost you to respond to that one threat and the partnership you had with Department of ED?

Not able to provide those information for now, but I could certainly try to provide get that information for you in terms of the resources that were needed. That would be super helpful for us. But certainly it was a cross.

You know, certainly multiple departments were involved across the state government as well as the Federal Government too, as well.

So I think it would be super helpful for us to understand what resources you used and how you prevented it and how you're going to continue to prevent this going forward. So based on that, how much more do you think you need to do? If you have, I can give you.

Kind of a high level overview of some of the resources that are involved. So when we have a detection. So some of this is like at the state lab monitoring the wastewater.

So that initial detection occurred in the wastewater, but it involved communication with our Department of Ag colleagues who had a report of sick and dead birds across a variety of different bird species in that catchment area.

So it required investigators to go out in the Department of Health side to understand who might have been exposed to the sick or dead birds.

So I understand. How much did it cost you guys for manpower for go over there, that one area you guys contained those birds, basically just kill the rest of them off anyway. How much did it cost?

Yeah, I can't provide that right now, but I can certainly try to get some cost. If you can, that'd be helpful.

Give them to the chair.

Thank you.

And when you do that, because you're talking about multiple bird species, include potential catchment problems for those of us who live in catchment areas and are prone to bird species going into our catchments. Okay. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I have another question for you while you're here.

At this point, there has or has not been transmission from of Avian flu to humans. Not in Hawaii, just anywhere.

So to date in the United States, there's been 70 human cases of Avian influenza.

What's the survival rate for Those of the 70 cases?

There's been one reported death. One reported death. That being said, so I would say the Avian Influenza, we most recently are seeing it in dairy herds and the infections that we see in humans that are around the dairy herds have been mild.

That being said, historically, infections for those that have gotten in humans has had a high mortality rate. And so I think that's one of the big concerns. Well, one in 70 is pretty, pretty, pretty good mortality rate, but certainly in the cases we've seen, but even historically, mortality rates as high as 50%.

Okay, so Members, we have one more on this joint and I have two other joints.

I have one other question. So there is no vaccine, there is no human vaccine or, nor animal vaccine at this point.

Point significant work is certainly being done to make sure that a vaccine would be available for now if we were to see what, you know, human transmission on a sustained basis.

Okay, thanks.

Thank you very much. Okay, moving on. HB750 relating to environment. First up, Department of Health support on Zoom. Please proceed.

Hello, Lino Tsu. Hello. Lino Tsu, speaking for Department of Health. We stand on our written testimony in support of this bill.

Thank you very much. Leah Laramie, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission in support. County Clerk Council Services Division in support. Hawaii Food Industry Association. Lauren Zirbel providing comments on Zoom. Lauren, are you present on Zoom?

Good afternoon. Chairs, Vice Chairs, Members of the committees. I'm Alexis Chapman, for HIFA. We comments and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you very much. John Richard, Flexible Packaging Association providing comments. Climate Change and Health Working Group in support. Tina Yamaki, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, providing comments. Tina, are you present on Zoom?

Not present on Zoom. Chair.

Thank you. Ted Bohlen, Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition in support.

Thank you. Chairs, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Ted Bohlen from the Hawaii Reef and Ocean Coalition. With our landfill constraints in every county, we need to do what we can to reduce the amount of waste that's going into the landfill and preservation the space that we have.

We need to refill and reuse things more and not just toss after we use things. I've worked for several years now with others, including people from the industry, to come up with first steps that could move us toward a more circular waste system. This is a good Bill that moves in that direction.

I urge the committees to pass it and I'm available for questions. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next, Mihoko iro, Consumer Technology Association providing comments. Thank you very much. Victor Lim, Hawaii Restaurant Association, providing comments. Victor, are you present? I see you.

Good afternoon, Senators. Just, just two comments. We always concerned about moving money from One intent to another program. The second point is that on the advisory council the representation on the business community site is missing. We have 34 groups lumped into for only one seat. So please consider providing more representation from the business community. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much. Next we have Melody Aduha, Environmental Caucus of Democratic Party of Hawaii in support. Holly Kessler, Hawaii Public Health Associate in support. Ruta Jordan, Zero Waste Kauai in support. Sharing Menor, Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii in support. Edwin Borban of America providing comments. Ruth Jordan's providing in support. Andrew Evans in support.

Ellie Warren in support. Emily Werner in support. Noel Morin in support. Nancy Romaine in support. Elizabeth Keefer in support. Anybody else wishing to testify on HB750, come on up. You have one minute.

Angela. Melody Young, CARES in strong support. So in this bill we're talking about the EPR extended producers responsibility and this has been something debated and legislated on the mainland in a few jurisdictions. I think, I think I may also be oversimplifying some of these things, but it was implemented somewhere on the mainland.

And the Keiki Caucus, which is one of the longest standing caucuses created by Senator Susie Sean Oakland and former Representative Arakaki. The children and youth, they really care about environment and recycling.

So in the group there are a lot of community advocates where we go to community service events and students get trained and to provide for the community based infrastructure for recycling and sustainability and to raise awareness about environmentally friendly practices. So I think if there can be more things to do be done outside of the rules.

Okay, thank you very much. It can be really helpful for recycling. Thank you so much, so much. Okay, anybody else wishing to testify on HB750 Members, any questions? Seeing none, can we proceed on to decision making? Okay, thank you very much. So for HD256, HD2 Chair's recommendation is to pass this as is.

Note that there is already a different defective date of December 31, 2050. So pass with amendments. Any comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Okay. Voting on House Bill 256 House Draft 2 recommendation of the Chair's to pass with amendments. [Roll Call] Recommendation is adopted, Chair.

Same recommendation for AEN. Any discussion?. Chair votes Aye.

Vice Chair on HB 2256. Passing with amendments.[ Roll Call] Motion adopted.

Thank you very much. So for HB 734 HD1 Chair's recommendation is to pass this with a different effective date of December 31, 2050 we're gonna we are going to note on the Committee report a request of Department of Health of 150,000 for each fiscal year to hire consultant Any comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Okay all Members are present. Any reservations? Any noes?Recommendation is adopted Chair.

Same recommendation for AEN. Chair votes Aye.

Vice Chair passing with amendments HB 734. Chair I'm gonna vote with reservations to as I'm concerned on the financing. [Roll Call] Jury you have five in favor.

Okay so for HV 735 HD2 Chair's recommendation is to pass this with technical amendments and a different effective date of December 31, 2050 so pass with amendments. Any comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Okay all Members are present Any reservations? Any noes recommendation is adopted Reservations Reservations for Senator Keohokalole. Okay Any other reservations? Any other recommendation is adopted Chair.

Same recommendation for AEM. Chair votes Aye. Vice Chair.

On HB735 Chair votes Aye, with all Members present. Are there any reservations or no votes?

Senator Walsh? No, no, no. I was just trying to remain judges. Oh sorry. Thanks. Okay thanks. Sorry.

So everybody is Aye. Okay, Chair five in favor thank you ma' am.

Thank you very much so for HB 879 HD1 Chair's recommendation is to pass this with amendments.

We're going to note the partner felt oral testimony regarding the blank appropriation for so we're going to add in a blank appropriation paragraph and note in the Committee report their request for three full time employees and that and a different Effective date of December 31, 2050 Any comments, questions, Concerns? the past with amendments seeing none Vice Chair for the vote so we're gonna.

We're just gonna discussion.

Do I discuss on our side or. We can just discuss what's your discussion real quick? I'm going to vote low on this. One only because there's an alternative that's not being talked about that costs way less. It's organic it's basically being used in. The ROI genking ball in set schools.

And it's holding at $500 a year much less and it could be better. For the environment so we want to. Push something like that.

Okay, thank you very much And I just also want to add in the Committee Report Department of Health's oral testimony is to continue the maximum grant of $20,000 per application any other comments, questions, concerns?

Yep. Chair, I'm going to be boarding with reservations. Concerned about financing.

Sounds good.

Chair, same. You know I got concerns about this bill because even on the amounts that put there is how they can prioritize who gets to first dibs on those funds. I don't usually agree with everything Senator Awa said but as the Genki boys though. Just saying.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Okay. So pass with amendments. Vice Chair for the vote.

Okay. All Members are present any reservations? Any nos?

No vote for San Francis recommendation is adopted.

No vote?

Chair, Same recommendation for ADN.

Chair votes I HB879 Chair votes Aye. Vice Chair votes with reservations. Sarah Decoy reservations. Sarah Rhodes. Aye. Sarah Awa. No. Chair, you have four in favor. Thank you Members.

Thank you. For HB 734, HD1 Chair's recommendation is to pass us with a different Defective date of December 312050. Excuse me. I'm sorry, am I missing one? Sorry. 918. Excuse me. For HB 918 HD2 Chair's recommendation is to pass this with technical amendments. We're also going to amend the six month delay to 18 months.

We're also going to put in a blank appropriation amount for Department of Health proposed enforcement and we're going to put in the Committee report their proposed request of $100,000 and two full time positions and the 100,000 is to do the outreach and education and a different defective date of December 312050.

This is a conversation that needs to occur and the question is whether or not we pay for it now or pay for it later. So. So pass with amendments. Any comments, questions, concerns?

Comment? Chair, I'm going to be voting with reservation because of the financing side.

Yep. Thank you. Any other comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

All Members are present any reservations? Reservations for Sen. Favela. Any other reservations? Any recommendation is adopted, Chair.

Chair, same recommendation for AEN Chair votes.

High on HB 918. All Members present any reservations? Any no votes? No. Chair, you have four in favor. Motions adopted. Thank you Members.

Thank you very much. For HB 1427 HD1 Chair's recommendation is to pass this with a different effective date of December 31, 2050. To continue the conversation.

We're going to note in the Committee Report Department of Agriculture's request of 293 and the part of Health's request of 3.3 million to 4.7 million which they are going to have to justify with Wham. But that's not for our Committee to decide at this time. And other than that, any comments, questions or concerns? Concerns. Sorry, Concerns.

Sure, sure. Just a fact that based on the Avian influenzas, it's been a highlight of importance. We get a press release extending out a voluntary pause on Inter Island transport of birds. I would think that at that point, if it's that important, then it's a mandatory shutdown of Inter Island transport of birds.

Okay, thank you. Noted. Any other comments, questions or concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote passed with amendments.

All Members are present. Any reservations?Any other reservations? Any recommendation is adopted.

Chair, Same recommendation for AEN. HB 1427 passing with amendments. All Members are present. Any no votes. Any reservations? Reservations? Okay. Chair, you have four in favor.

Thank you very much. So HB 750. Sheriff's recommendation is to pass this with substantial amendments. We are going to accept Department of Health's proposed amendments. HFIA's proposed amendments on part.

And we are also going to add a part two where we are going to insert in SB 1298 SB 1298 that we had previously passed and technical amendments needed for clarity and consistency. Any comments, questions, concerns? Yes.

Chair, was is one of those amendments to add on the seat for the business?

Right. Thank you, HIFA.

Thank you.

Okay. Any other comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote passed with amendments.

All Members are present. Any reservation? Recommendation is adopted, Chair.

Same recommendation for AEN. HB 750 passing with amendments. All Members present. Any reservations? Any no votes? Chair, you have five in favor.

Okay, thank you very much. And we are adjourned for HHSA.

Thank you. Calling the calendar for Health, Human Services and housing Joint Committee 105 calendar. First up, HB 431 relating to housing. We have Louis Oliveira, Department of Budget and Finance, providing comments. Next we have Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation and support, hhdc. Thank you very much.

Next we have Dainty Bartolidus, Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities and Support. Okay. And I'm just going to note for the record that we have. We have Chair Chang coming in and we had called it in a time when Vice Chair Hashimoto was present so that we could be more efficient.

But I know Chair Chang is listening in, so. And we also have Senator. Yeah, he's present. And we also have Senator and Senator Pabello present. So next up, we have Hawaii State Council on Developmental Disabilities and support. Director Yamane, Department of Human Services in support. Are you present?

Director in support.

Thank you. Jun Tiang, State Office on Homelessness and Housing Solution and Support in I think Jun Yang with the Office of Homelessness and Housing Solutions.

Actually, just wanted to clarify. We're here, wanted to present some comments. We just wanted to make sure that the Committee knows we're asking for just a little bit of a reconsideration on the amendments to the amendment requiring at least two bids for the Kawahale project, over $1 million.

We saw that.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay.

Thank you very much. Okay. Next we have Lane Anna Le, Office of Hawaiian affairs and Support. Bonnie Kahakui, State Procurement Office providing comments. Shanoa Koinen, Hawaii State Youth Commission in support. Karen Tashima on behalf of Kehaulani Costa County, Hawaii Office of Housing Community Development in support. Kevin Augur, Office of Housing City and County Honolulu in support.

Betty Lou Larson in support.

Chairs, vice chairs and Members. I'm Betty Lou Larson with Catholic Chairs of Hawaii. We feel both the Kahali and the permits for housing are really essential to end homelessness and especially to prevent homelessness.

And I just want to comment that as a Member of the Coalition for joining us, we've been very impressed with HHFDC's really dedication attention to helping us to find a structured solution to this and that would be streamlined, that would involve the collaboration with the counties.

So just want to encourage that to continue and we support this Bill. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next we have Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction center in support. Nicholas Levins, are you present on Zoom? Please proceed. You have one minute.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, Members Nico Sleverins with Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction center in Strong Support of this Bill. I'll just. I'll just stand on our testimony because I know you're in a crunch. Thanks.

Thank you very much. Alan Johnson, hsac. In support Maui Chamber of Commerce and support Sando Shiro Hyait and support Hawaii Community Foundation Maika Kane and support Audrey Awaya, Pacific Housing Assistance Corporation. And support Susan Le, Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice. Support Heather Lusk, Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction. And support Rachel Lewis, Easter Seals.

In support Jennifer Tsig Young, Democrats of Hawaiian support. Bronson Silva, Democratic Party for buying support Angie Knight, Institute of Hawaii Service Human Services and support. Yes. Okay. Ellen Awai in support. David Ball in support. Reza Shayanguya in support. Anybody else wishing to testify? HB 431. Okay, you have one minute. Angela.

Angela. Melody Young testifying in strong supports. And so I think this is really helpful to getting to goals in the state. And so one of the developers was HomeAid. HomeAid was very efficient at designing the Kahale. And right now to kind of maximize resources to consider perhaps joint venture partnerships of companies coming together to share resources.

When groups come together, they can expand their resources to get to their goals in a more efficient amount of time. So to build faster, to build more efficiently and to be effective with the work groups. I think this initiative is going to be very helpful and a great deal of fun.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Anybody else wishing testifying HB431 Members. Any questions? So I do. One HHSDC. I have a question. So this Bill has a special Fund regarding supportive housing. Do you need a special Fund or can we just give you a General appropriation to do the supportive housing?

I believe a special Fund would be.

Is it necessary or can we just give you a grant? I mean can we just appropriate you money and tell you use it for supportive housing? Using this criteria, it potentially could.

The funds may lapse. Right. In six years. So we would like to provide services on ongoing long term basis. Which is the basis for having a special Fund.

Yeah. Because. Okay. Budget and finance has questions on. On the special Fund appropriation unless we keep funding it. So. Okay. I think it's going to have the same problems if we're just going to do a General appropriation whether or not we label it a special Fund.

I see. We'll take a look at the testimony and see if we can address the concern.

Okay. Thank you very much. Any. Okay.

Myself from the governor's office. I'm sorry, I don't know. I'm the new one.

My name Is Jun Yang. Yes.

Okay, sorry. Anyway, my concern is, you know, I reached out previously before. The question would be what is the. What is this? Not only with the state, we just do with the state right now hfdc. We're coming up with this idea.

What is the actual plan in working with IHS and all of these guys who getting a lot of money, you know, don't even have to come for a grant. $30 million, bam. Giving them. But you've been here, I've been here.

Do you see any solutions besides now we're making Kahale Chattobakers so that we can have more accessibility our household population. But did we see the decrease? But we did not. So my question is. Well, I want the Governor and reach out to him too. I reached out to saying this publicly.

Somebody need to look into something that is broken. I think something is broken there because we were working hard here legislatively to find alternative and getting funding for Kahali Homes, which I think is a great idea. I was a big supporter from that from day one when he was lg.

But we got to find out what is the mechanism that is causing the increase and not the decrease. We need to look into IHS and figure out how is this not decreasing and their income and the money going through them is increasing but there's no decrease. There's no checks and balances.

That's how I want to work with you. If we can look into that going forward.

Absolutely.

Thank you very much. So that's one of our questions. Going forward is the plan. But I don't think it's the same. Okay, I'm sorry. No, no, no, it's not. It's a legitimate question. Okay, so it's a legitimate concern. Any other questions on HB431? But Senator Favela is basically echoing all of our concerns.

Absolutely, we understand. Thank you. Some information. Thank you.

I'm not necessarily about the 30 million to IHS, but at least the overall homelessness plan. Okay, thank you very much. Okay, any other questions on HB 431? Okay, moving on. HB 703. First up, relating to Kupuna Housing. First up, we have. Excuse me, who the heck do we have? Well, I'm sorry. That's why I don't have it.

No problem. Our first testifier is State Health Planning and Development Agency and support.

Yes, yes, yes. We stand in our testimony and support. Thank you.

Thank you. Executive Office on Aging and support.

Hi Chair Chang and Senator San Buenaventura, Members of the Committee. We stand on our written testimony and support. Thank you.

Thank you. Hawaii Public Housing Authority in support. Thank you.

Office of Hawaiian affairs in support, County of Hawaii Office of Housing and Community Development in support, Institute for Human Services in support, Policy Advisory Board Elderly affairs in support, Democratic Party of Hawaii and support, Catholic Charities Hawaii in support

Thank you and several individuals in support.

Catholic Charities stand on our written testimony in support.

Mike Golou, Sr. Le Momi Khan, Elena Y., Deanna Espinas. And that's it. Is there anyone else wishing to testify on HB703?

Angela Melody Young testifying on behalf of CARES in strong support of the Kupuna Housing. Because I love seniors. I go to the senior daycare Senior center all the time. I sing to them and we relax and we have fun. Some of the seniors have health concerns that get triggered very easily.

So I try to do my best to just provide care to them and to accommodate the housing needs of the qualified and eligible seniors. I think this legislation is very necessary in the plan to kind of expand the benefits for senior housing. This can help. Yeah. Thank you.

Anyone else wishing to testify on HB 703? If not, are there... Are there any questions?

If not, I think we're..

Ready for decision making. Okay. Are we ready for decision making? So for HHS HOU, HB431 Chair's recommendation is to pass this with substantial amendments.

We're going to add a purpose on part two, page four, sub one, to appropriate funds for the continued implementation of the Ohana Zones program established under Act 09, Session Law 2018.

We're going to remove page five, line 20 through page 6, line 18 and add part two, paragraph that says there is appropriated out of the General revenues of the State of Hawaii, a blank amount for the continued operation of the Ohana Zones Pilot program established under Act 209, Session 2018.

On page 7, remove line 16 through 18, amend references to special Fund on page 11 to be administered by HHFDC and basically substitute on line 7 and 8 to read as follows. Year 2026 to 2027 blank amounts to be administered by HHFBC for supportive housing.

Remove section 6, lines 9 to 13 and 19 to 21 on page 11, and on page 12 removes lines 1 to 5. On the committee report, we're going to note HHFDC's request for $175,000 to implement and one full time employee.

And we are going to request that Jun Yang provide to the WAM Committee the blank amounts necessary for the supportive housing. Blank for The Ohana zones blank, and for the Kauhali zones, blank. Okay. Any other comments, questions and concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote pass with amendment.

Okay, house voting on House Bill 431, House Draft 2. Recommendation of the Chairs to pass with amendment. Chair and Vice Chair vote aye. [roll call] Recommendation is adopted Chair.

For this Committee on Housing. For HB431, the same recommendation to pass with amendments. Chair votes aye.

Chair recommendation on HB 431 is to pass with amendments. Chair votes Aye. Vice Chair votes aye. [roll call] Chair Recommendations adopted.

Thank you. For HB703, chairs having conferred, recommendation will be to pass with amendments. There will be technical, non substantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency and will also further defect the date. Okay. If not for HB 703, Chair's recommendations pass with amendments.

Members HB703, HD1. Chair's recommendations aye. Any Members with reservations. Any Members voting No? Without others voting aye, recommendations adopted. Thank you.

Okay. And with that, we are adjourned. No, sorry, I. Sorry, I got in my... Okay. HHS same recommendation. Chair votes aye.

Any reservations? Any no's? Recommendation is adopted, Chair.

Okay. And now we can adjourn right now.

The Joint Hearing is adjourned.

Calling the 110 calendar for health and Human Services. Oh, you know what? I do have one. Sorry. Thank you very much.

I'll take it back then. I'll take it back.

Okay. For HB212 relating to homelessness, we have. Excuse me. We have Jun Yang in support. Okay. Sonny Gan, Office of the Public Defender and support, Hawaii State Council Mental Health providing comments.

Kehaulani Kasa, County of Hawaii Office of Housing Community Development and Support. Angie Knight, Institute of Human Services in support.

Hi, Angie Knight from IHS Aloha Chair, Vice Chair and Member of the Committee. Yes, IHS is in strong support of this program. It began as a local initiative, but then was piloted by the state. And so we're just asking for the support to make it permanent.

And also we would like to emphasize the need for the full time position as the current contract does not have that. And we have seen that with a full time position within the OHHS, this will only increase the amount of people who are being able to be served. Thank you for your time.

Okay, thank you very much. Next. Jillian Anderson, Waikiki Neighborhood Board in support. Nora in support. Nora, are you present on Zoom? Please proceed.

Aloha, Chair and Members. My name is Nora Hull. I am a student at the University of Hawaii Social Work. And I'm working in the ER right now. I see a lot of people who come in the ER that are unhoused, not only seeking medical care but also seeking resources for food insecurity, mental health crises, substance use.

And a lot of these people came to Hawaii on a whim, unaware of the the realities of homelessness in Hawaii and who have expressed wanting to go back to their home state where their community supports are, where their families are.

This is the most ethical and humane way, a very ethical and humane way to to address homelessness in Hawaii and also free up resources for those who are living in Hawaii that are unhoused.

Okay, thank you very much. Next we have Denise Boisvert on support. Jim Jorgensen in support. Jan Balbato in support. Ellen Godby Carson in support. Glenn Kagemada in support. Thomas Lee, Hawaii Data Collaborative providing comments. Anybody else wishing testifying HB212. Members, any questions?

Just for the DB.

Okay, let's make it short because.

Yeah, will be short just.

Thank you.

I know they have this program and return to home program. Yes, but don't DB have a... if I'm not mistaken, Vash, Right? Is it a...

That is with... in the Waikiki District? There is a program that I think that is running through the Waikiki district business associations. But I'll double check on that.

I remember using them. It wasn't nothing to do with Waikiki. We did it three times in our community. We had Host community guys go back to the continent. Well, it's a very good program because the airport is very receptive if you don't have ID all those kinds of credentials and they escort you to the plane.

And I think that may have been adopted by the return to own pilot. And so it was working through that process.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you very much. Next, any questions on HB212? Okay, moving on. HB 213 relating to loan repayment for healthcare professionals. First up we have hold on 213 Department of Health Senior Advisor, Office of the Governor and support Wilkane University of Hawaii System and support. Leave one conceal. Thank you very much.

Laura Reichardt, Hawaii State Center for Nursing in support. Hawaii State Council on Mental Health Support. Chita, are you in support?

Stand in strong support. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Office of County Clerk Council Services County of Kauai in support. Jonathan Chang, Kaiser Permanente. Are you present on Zoom?

Jonathan Chang, not present on Zoom Chair.

Okay. Please. Okay. Palani Smith, Liberty Dialysis in Support Hawaii Association of Health Plans. Rachel Wilkinson. Support. Mike Nguyen. Aloha Care and support. Are you present? Mike? Okay. Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction. Nicholas Levens in support. Linda Beechnor in support. Healthcare Association of Hawaiian. Support. Democratic Party. Hawaiian. Support Hawaii Health Systems Corporation. Support Hawaiian Medical Association. In support.

Queen's Health Systems. In support. Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition. Support Hawaii Primary Care Association. Support HMSA in support. Hawaii Dental Association. Support Hawaii Pacific Health and Support. And we have six other individuals all in support. Anybody else we can testify? HB 213 regarding loan repayment Members. Any questions? Okay, seeing none. Moving on. HB 239 relating to child abuse.

First up, we have Director Yamani providing comments.

Yes, Stand everything.

Thank you very much. OHA Advocacy, Office of Foreign affairs and Support. Office of Wellness and Resiliency and Support, Hawaii Services Network. Judith Clark, Aloha Chair.

Members of the Committee, we just want to make the point that poverty does not equal child abuse or neglect. I talked with a parent from Maui whose children badly needed dental care and they were under investigation by CPS for child neglect.

The mother told me she had literally called every single dentist on Maui and there was not one who would accept a new Medicaid client. The fact that her children did not get the dental care she needed was not her fault. It was not neglect or abuse. Thank you for this opportunity to testify.

Thank you very much. Hawaii Children's Action Network speaks. Noreen Cole, you're on zoom. Please proceed. You have one minute.

Yes. Thank you so much for the opportunity to provide testimony.

I stand on our written testimony and just want to emphasize many families in our state struggle to make ends meet, and we should be meeting them with direct, concrete and economic supports in real time rather than child welfare involvement when there is no additional reason to believe that maltreatment is occurring.

So this bill is a really important step alongside other measures towards distinguishing between poverty and neglect and meeting families where they are in community with support without stigma.

So given the time, I'll just say we stand on our written testimony and also would like to add, if you could please pass this bill with an effective date of July 2025 rather than the date that's currently in the bill. Thank you so much again for the opportunity to testify.

Okay, thank you very much. Next we have Marilyn Yamamoto. Yamamoto, A White Coalition of Child Protective Reform in support. Catholic Charities and support. Laura Tachiki in support. Thank you very much. Chloe Franklin in providing comments. Chloe, are you present on zoom?

Not present on zoom.

Chair Ellen Karen Worthington in support. Eleanor Wine. Support. Dara Carlin. Support. Dylan Onsen. Support. Olivia Hetzley. Support. Johnny Mae Perry in opposition. Anybody else wishing testifying? HB 239 Members. Any questions? Seeing none. Moving on. HB 244 relating to Department of Human Services. First up, Department of Human Services providing comments. Okay. Trisha Kajimur of PAT in support. Aloha, Chair.

Thank you.

Aloha Committee. Tricia Kajimura from Parents and Children Together. I just wanted to emphasize that this is. Is asking for support to us to support the community and meet their needs, not get farther away from it, but getting closer to meet those community needs.

We have some really big looming challenges ahead relating to funding in addition to not being able to meet our true costs. We have the federal funding crisis happening. We have insurance costs skyrocketing and we really need this to continue serving. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I'm just going to note I only have five more minutes and if you folks can stand in your written testimony, I would really appreciate it that way.

We have five minutes to be to do decision making and I know a lot of you have waited for a long time to be able to speak so. And I have read your testimony and I would not be hearing the bill if I wasn't already supportive of it.

Okay, so if you are really in opposition, then I'll let you speak. But knowing that I'm already. That's why I'm hearing it. Okay, so moving on. Angelina Mercado, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence and support. Thank you very much. Kat Brady, Community Alliance on Prisons in support.

Strong support.

Thank you. Judith Clark, Hawaii Youth Services Network and support.

Standing is very strong support.

Thank you very much. Narin Ko, Hawaii Chill and Action Network in support on Zoom. Okay. Lori Lum, Child and Family Service and support. Thank you. Nicholas L. Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction support. Nicholas Leverens testimony. I've only got five minutes.

Stand in strong support of this bill. Mahalo.

Thank you. You two. Noreen, can you stand on your testimony in support?

Yes, Chair. Stand in strong support.

Thank you very much. Okay. Mike Nguyen, Aloha Care and support. Mike, are you present on Zoom?

Not present on Zoom, Chair.

Amy Miller, Hawaii Food bank in support. Peter Silva in support. Terrific. Alan Johnson HVAC In support. Rachel Lewis, Eastern SEALS in support. And about 15 other individuals and organizations all in support. Tatiana Bertolini, are you on Zoom? Okay. Tanya Brown, are you on Zoom?

Yes.

Okay. Please proceed. Tanya.

Stand in support.

Thank you very much. Okay. Anybody else wishing to testify on HB 244? HB 320 related to support Members. Any questions? Thank you very much. Okay. HB 320 related to support and decision making. First up we have Council on Developmental Disabilities and support. Thank you. Director Yamane in support.

We stand on our testimony and support.

Thank you. Carolyn Cutter out Executive Office of Aging and support. Support. Thank you. Thank you. Shea Silver. I see you back there. I mentioned you. Disability and Communications Access Board in support. Kisha. Okay. Office of Council, Kauai and support. Hawaii Disability Rights Center, Louis ER and support.

And we support the DD Council amendments.

I. I saw that. Thank you very much. Arin Hawaii in support. James Kilger in support. Hawaii State Advocacy Advisory Council support. Eastern Citizen support. Anybody? And we have about 15 other all individuals in support, including various organizations. Nobody in opposition. Anybody else wishing testifying? HB 320 seeing none. Moving on Members. Any questions? Okay, go up.

Thank you very much. Okay, next up we have fall prevention HB 474. First up, office of Aging, Department of Health and support. Office of Aging and support and support. I'll stand. Thank you. Thank you. Eleanor Wine support. Kathleen Wine support. Anybody else wishing testify? Seeing non Members. Any? Oh, come on up. Sorry.

Sorry, Madam Chair. So the. This is the Department of Health and we are standing in some strong support, but with an amendment because we already have based on Legislation Act 1533 a Injury Prevention Coordinator in the state. We're asking for the amendment for this funding to go to the Falls campaign.

Okay, thank you very much. Okay, anybody else wishing testifying? HB 474 Members. Any questions? Moving on. HB 784 relating to health. First up, Department of Health in support. Jack Lewin in support. BP advocacy Office of Hawaiian affairs and support. Holeka Inaba in support. Are you present? Holeka?

Strong support. Thank you. Chair.

Thank you very much. Karen Tashima, County of Hawaii Office of the Mayor in support. Kazuo Todd in support. Kauai Fire Marshal, Makale Fire Station and support. HFD and support. Daniel Sayer foundation in support. Laura say, are you present on zoom?

Not present on zoom. Chair. Okay.

Edward Chu and support. And we've got another 30 individuals all in support. Anybody else wishing testify? We got all in support. Nobody in opposition. Anybody wishing to testify in HB 784 call Members, any questions? Can we move on to decision making? So first up for HB 212 sheriff's recommendation is to pass this as is.

We are going to note the in the. In the Committee report, the $50,000 request by State Office of Homeless and Housing Solution for The Blank. Any comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none.

Vice Chair for the vote. Okay. House Bill 212, House Draft 2. Recommendation of the chairs to pass as is Chair and Vice Chair Vote aye. Senators Hashimoto and Kolol are excused. Senator Vella. All right. Recommendation is adopted.

Thank you very much. For HB 213, Chair's recommendation is to pass this as is. We're going to note on the Committee report the $15 million request for 25-26 and 26-27. Any comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Okay. Any reservations, Any no's? Recommendation is adopted chair.

So for HB 229, we're going to pass this with amendments. We're going to add in a paragraph that evidence of parental requests for support shall not be considered evidence of child abuse and neglect.

We're also going to add in the Committee report that unless the child is in substantial risk of harm, CPS should provide support rather than supervision to parents accused of neglect. Any comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Okay, members are present. Any reservations? Any no's?Recommendation is adopted.

So for HB 244, Chair's recommendation is to pass this with a defect with a different Defective date of December 312050. Any comments, questions, concerns? Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Three Members are present. Any reservations? Any no's? Recommendation is adopted.

So for SB and HB 320 supported decision making. Chair's recommendation is to pass this with the amendments requested by the State Council on Developmental Disabilities. We're going to remove line 11 on page 5 and technical amendments. And we're also going to note that there's already a defective date. Any comments, questions concerning. None. Vice Chair for the vote. Okay.

Any reservations? Any no's? Recommendation is at the office. Okay. For HB 474, Chair's recommendation is to pass this with Department of Health's proposed amendment. And we're gonna note on the Committee report the $100,000 request by Department of Health. Any comments, questions and concerns Seeing none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Any reservations? Any no's? Recommendation is adopted. Chair. Okay.

Force HB 784. Chair's recommendation is adopted to pass this as is. Any comments, questions, concerns? Saying none. Vice Chair for the vote.

Three Members are present. Any reservations? Any no's? Recommendation is adopted.

And with that, we are adjourned.

And thank you for your cooperation.