Bill Text: HI HB303 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Beaches.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-12-11 - Carried over to 2024 Regular Session. [HB303 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2024-HB303-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
303 |
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THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to Beaches.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the State's beaches are important to the environmental, economic, and cultural well-being of the State and its residents. The State's beaches are internationally admired for their crystal blue waters and white sands.
The legislature further finds that to maintain the State's beaches' status as a popular destination for tourists and residents to partake in recreational activities, the State's beaches should be monitored to ensure the health and safety of persons that use the beaches. Pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act, as amended by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of 2000, the department of health monitors and tests for fecal indicator bacteria; specifically, the department tests for Enterococcus and Clostridium perfringens. The department also prioritizes the beaches and the frequency with which they are tested depending on the usage by persons and the likely threat by some type of pollution.
The legislature also finds that the State has the highest level of community acquired staph infections in the country. The bacteria most associated with staph infections, Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, are known to be present in the waters and sands of the State's beaches.
The purpose of this Act is to better protect the health and safety of persons enjoying the State's beaches by requiring the department of health to conduct a two-year pilot project to test certain State's beaches for the bacteria that causes staph infections not less than monthly.
SECTION
2. (a)
The department of health shall establish a Staph testing pilot project
to test all Tier 1 beaches in the State for the bacteria Staphylococcus
aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus
aureus not less
than monthly.
(b)
The department of health shall conduct tests of the waters and the
sand. The department of health shall
follow the same procedures and actions under the routine monitoring program in
response to exceedances of recreational water quality standards if the tests
conducted pursuant to this pilot project necessitate such procedures and actions,
including the issuance of advisories, follow-up sampling, and communicating
with risk communication partners to inform the public of the risks. The department of health shall ensure that
signs are posted, either by the department or through a risk communication
partner, to communicate the risks when test results necessitate such action.
(c)
The department of health shall submit a report of its findings
and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no
later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular sessions of 2024, 2025, and 2026. The report shall include, but not be limited
to:
(1) The schedule of testing, including which beaches were tested and the days on which they were tested;
(2) Whether the results necessitated response actions;
(3) The response actions taken; and
(4) Whether the testing should continue, based on the findings, beyond the two-year period.
(d) The pilot project shall cease on June 30, 2025.
SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2023-2024 and the same sum or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2024-2025 to establish and operate the two-year pilot project required by this Act.
The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2023.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Pilot Project; Tier 1 Beaches; DOH; Staphylococcus Aureus; Testing; Appropriation
Description:
Requires the department of health to establish a two-year pilot project to test Tier 1 beaches for Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus not less than monthly. Requires a report to the legislature before the regular sessions of 2024, 2025, and 2026. Appropriates funds.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.
