A bill that Hawaii’s Department of Health says would go far to combat pollution flowing into Hawaii’s coastal waters, rivers and streams has been abruptly killed by lawmakers. 

House BIll 903 passed the Ways and Means Committee last week by a vote of 9 to 1. But two days later, the committee called a new hearing and reversed itself. Twelve senators voted to hold the bill. Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland was the sole senator who opposed the move. 

The bill would have given the health department more authority and resources to combat runoff, including sewage from residential cesspools that is suspected to flow straight into waterways when it rains. 

“The Legislature dealt a huge blow to water quality improvement in the state,” said Gary Gill, deputy director for Environmental Health for the Department of Health. 

Gill said he didn’t know why the bill, which was part of the governor’s legislative package, was killed.  

“All I know is that the Ways and Means Committee reconsidered their original vote to pass with amendments and the Ways and Means Chairman announced that some senators had spoken to him, raising concerns,” he said. “And so they reconsidered it and took another vote.”

Sen. David Ige, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, could not be immediately reached for comment. 

Groups including Alexander & Baldwin, the General Contractors Association of Hawaii, the Land Use Research Foundation and the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, submitted testimony in opposition to the bill. 

After heavy rains, government officials often issue brown water advisories warning residents to stay out of the water “due to possible overflowing cesspools, sewer manholes, pesticides, animal fecal matter, dead animals, pathogens, chemicals, and associated flood debris.” 

Gill said that HB 903 would have helped alleviate this pollution.

(Photo: Eugene_o.)

— Sophie Cocke