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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN AWEEMC 2019/06/03 2018-2020Committee on Agriculture, Water, Energy, and Environmental Management 5th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii June 3, 2019 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Agriculture, Water, Energy, ORDER: and Environmental Management was called to order at 3:05 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Chair Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. The following individuals registered to speak and came forward when called by the Chair: Sarah Rafferty: Bill 74 (Comm. 301), comment. (Representing Surfrider Foundation) Shelly Mahi-hanai: Lauren Zirbel: (Representing Hawaii Food Industry Association) Derek Kurisu: Jon Olson: Bill 74 (Comm. 301), in support. Bill 74 (Comm. 301), in support. Bill 74 (Comm. 301), in support. Bill 74 (Comm. 301), comment. AWEEMC-5 June 3, 2019 Rhonda Nakamoto: Bill 74 (Comm. 301), in support. (Representing Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp.) Katie Osborne: Bill 74 (Comm. 301), in support. (Representing Y. Hata and Company) Richard Kobayashi: Bill 74 (Comm. 301), in support. (Representing Cafe 100) Jason Higa: Bill 74 (Comm.301), in support. (Representing Hawaii Restaurant Association & Zippy's Restaurant) Sherrie Holi: Bill 74 (Comm. 301), comment. (Representing Big Island Candies) CHR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Sherrie, for your testimony. I'll make one quick lap around the county. Does any of the other sites, have any further testimony, any testifiers? I'm not hearing anything and I'm not seeing anybody wave, so with that I'm going to close public testimony. Okay, thank you everybody for testifying. And right now, Clerk, I'm going to turn the chairing of the meeting over to my Vice Chair, Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. Relinquish Chair: At this time, the Chair relinquished the chair to Vice Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Clerk, let the record show that I have taken over as Chair for the meeting of Ag, water, and energy. Can you please read in Mr. Clerk, Bill 74. COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. (There were none.) ORDER OF The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, RESOLUTIONS: Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. Page 2 AWEEMC-5 June 3, 2019 Bill 74: AMENDS CHAPTER 20, ARTICLE 6, OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2016 EDITION, AS AMENDED), RELATING TO POLYSTYRENE FOAM FOOD CONTAINER AND FOOD SERVICE WARE REDUCTION Proposes amendments to five definitions and the exemptions provisions to address what types of containers and packaging will be prohibited as of July 1, 2019. Reference: Comm. 301 Intr. by: Mr. Richards (Note: Comm. 301.3, from Council Member Herbert "Tim" Richards, III, transmitting proposed amendments to Bill 74, was circulated.) Motion to Approve: Mr. Richards moved to recommend passage of Bill 74 on first reading. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. ACTING CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Any discussion? Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Thank you, Chair. Yeah, we've heard the testimony coming forth, and for some of us who remember being through this when it came through as Bill 13 back just about two years ago, I think that was a good statement, a lot of work has been done. Before we go much further, I do have an amendment I'd like to put forth. Communication 301.3. Chair can we get that read in, please. ACTING CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Clerk, can you read in Communication 301 MR. RICHARDS: Oh, excuse me, alright. ACTING CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: So can we have a motion to amend Bill 74 with the contents of Communication 301.3. Motion to Amend: Mr. Richards moved to amend Bill 74 with the contents of Comm. 301.3. Seconded by Ms. Lee Loy. ACTING CHR KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Yes, okay. We'll get back to the conversation on the Bill 74, shortly. In Communication 301, some of the conversation and some of the testifiers have spoken concerning a little bit of the verbiage. And what the content of this communication is, is to clarify the definition of recyclables and change the verbiage from "is" to "may be processed into material utilized..." And the reason we put this forward has to do with the greater concern and issue of a portion of the bill is that we have a problem of recycling in our county. No fault to anybody in the county except the compostable units. We are no longer composting at this point and we're not accepting any plastics. So this changes it Page 3 AWEEMC-5 June 3, 2019 from "is" and being very restrictive to "may be" which allows us to go forward until we actually get the recycling put back in place. So with that, I'm asking for the support of my fellow Council Members to amend this. Questions I guess since we have to have this conversation here. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes, any discussion? Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Aloha, thank you both, for all of your hard work on this issue. And for all the businesses that are recognizing the need for not if, but when we need to make changes as a society in how we package our food products and ship them and what not. Well, all the solutions aren't available right now, I'm personally extremely excited and a number of people that I've worked with for years are also really excited to remove polystyrene from our waste stream here on the Big Island. Can't tell you a number of years even just on the beach the little body boards that are polystyrene and just pop in half, or the coolers or what not. It's just such a instantly breakable material. I guess I just wanted to say, that I met with some of the people that were some of the first activists to bring this bill to light and worked extremely hard. And I understood some of their concerns and fears, kind of PTSD (Post -Traumatic Stress Disorder) thing and worry these were loop holes that were being inserted. But I'm really grateful Bill Kucharski met with us, and walked us through each and every one of the terms. And kind of the legalese involved in this, and I'm extremely grateful for the efforts that were put in there and all of the different circumstances that had to be considered, so that it doesn't negativity affect the phenomenal businesses and manufacturers we have here on the Big Island as well as local grocery store chains. And I just really want to compliment those that worked on this so diligently. And express my gratitude, as well as support in this capacity. And I have hopes that in the future for our county, there will continue to be opportunities for us to improve how we manage our waste streams. So I yield, but thank you for this. Aloha. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. Richards, anything? MR. RICHARDS: No, nothing further. So we can amend the bill, and then we can get back and discuss the bill. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: All in favor of amending Bill 74 with contents of 301.3? Page 4 AWEEMC-5 Vote on Motion to Amend: (Approved) June 3, 2019 The motion to amend Bill 74 with the contents of Comm. 301.3 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Villegas, and Chair Richards — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So back to discussing Bill 74 as mended, then. MR. RICHARDS: Okay, thank you, Chair. So that comes back and I don't want to say this is necessary housekeeping bill, but what it does is it clarifies some of the concerns that have been raised. And when this was put forth, and I've spent a lot of time with industry having the conversations, I can say without exception the industry is very supportive of the reduction of Styrofoam, the polystyrene foam. That was never a question. One of the things that came up during this last couple of months, three, four months I've been working with the Vice Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder is that initially people taught we were trying to repeal the bill, and that had nothing to do with it. And people thought we were going to delay the implementation date, and that nothing to do. What we were trying to do is clarify some of these concerns that were raised. And it had to do with our inability as a county to recycle products that we could up until recently recycle. One of the questions also came out was, or one of the statements that well, if you read the bill the only fines and penalties pertain around polystyrene foam, and had nothing to do with the use of the plastics or recyclable plastics. And I was asked well if there's no problem and no finds, why are we going to bother and touching the bill? It's interesting, industry said we don't want to be doing things that are technically in violation of law, we want to clean it up. And I appreciate that coming from industry, so and this is going to help address that in going forward. I think the Council heard loud and clear that it's going to be incremental, it's going to be steps going forward and we're going to have to be sensitive as we go back and forth. As we get better, we meaning the county, with our recycling, I think we're going to make better strides. Some of the concerns that have been raised have been decreasing our waste stream, and things going into our waste stream. I don't think there's anybody in the room that doesn't agree with that statement. Nobody wants to have as much rubbish going into the solid waste, and we have to take steps toward that. But at the same time we can't put our companies out of business. Page 5 AWEEMC-5 June 3, 2019 And there were some unintended consequences, as this came forward. So with that I'm going to be asking for your support to pass this. It's going to take care of the county, it's going to still look to the future while addressing some of the current needs. With that Chair, I yield. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Richards. Any further discussion? Ms. David. MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to say, express how glad I am that you brought this forward, Mr. Richards, because I think you're correct with the perception that we were hearing from our constituents when this first came out. So I'm glad you took the time to clear it up, and I really support your efforts in trying to put this forward in such a way we're able to do further with it as we go down the line. So your work on this is really appreciated, and thank you very much for doing this. And that's all I need to say, and I will support it. Mahalo. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thanks, Ms. David. Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I think most of you know, that I had been preparing a bill myself, until I found out that Mr. Richards had come up with something on his own and I really do appreciate that. I think you also know that when this original bill came up, both Sue Lee Loy and myself voted against it. And it's not so much, I cannot speak for her, but I think we were pretty much same page on this. It's not that we taught polystyrene was a good thing, it's just that we felt it was unfairly targeted local eating establishments. And you could still bring in polystyrene from the mainland, you could sell it at big box stores. But yet our local vendors couldn't use it anymore, and I thought it was patently unfair and targeting our local businesses. Incidentally, Mr. Kobayashi, you know, I go to your place almost like, now I'm kind of on the low maybe two times a week. But before, you know, when my kids were young, like five times a week, right. But that box that you guys get, kind of leaking, you know. You know, I got to give you guy's credit though, you guys have tried to adapt to the needs of the community. And trying to be more socially responsible. But you're right you got to get something different because it's leaking. Yeah, those things just don't work, but I love your establishment. As I do with Big Island Candies, and KTA. I go your guys place like three times a week, right. Zippy's of course, but I go to Cafe 100 more, I know everybody over there. You know, so what happened here when all of these local vendors now—and you know, I think Derek brought it up on how much they contribute to our, you know, just our community without asking for anything in return, just doing the right thing. You know, when they started coming up to tell us, "Hey, there's a problem, you know, with this." We're not looking to changing the polystyrene ban, but there are other unintended consequences. Particularly because China's Page 6 AWEEMC-5 June 3, 2019 not accepting these materials anymore, so it forced us at the county level to change our recycling program. And everything in here was tied to our recycling program that wreaked havoc on the situation. And we had to help you guys. I mean that's my position, we've got to help you guys. Because what I found odd, is that if a person or a company from Honolulu packaged things and brought it here, it would be okay. But if it was packaged here on the Big Island then it's not okay. Something wrong with that picture in my opinion. So anyway I just wanted to assure everyone out there in the public that nothing is going to change with regard to the polystyrene. I voted against it, but I'm in support of it, you know. There has to be something to be said for deferring to the wisdom of past Councils, and I'm not going to change that in any way, shape, or form. But we have to do something for this. You know what, I wanted to point out something else though, and you know, it really, really kind of bothers me. You know, I think whenever we do ordinances that are going to be memorialized as our law, they have to be done well. And this was just a horribly done bill. I mean I'm going to point out some things, you know, and I had my staff painfully going through all of the terms and definitions. "Food packaging." The only reference of food packaging in all of this, is in its own definition. You know, "food provider," it's again in the definition section, that's not too bad. At least it's not in its own definition. "Food vendor," again, only in the definition section. "Retail," "retail food establishments," again, only in the definition section. You know, and that's crazy. And as Mr. Richards pointed out, the violations, the penalties, only relate to polystyrene and there in lay the problem. We thought this was a ban on polystyrene, and we completely overlooked those other aspects. And now, you know, we got everybody up, you know, in an uproar. But I'm really glad we're taking the steps to correct it, and I'm glad Mr. Richards also made the amendment. You know, I actually was going to gut everything relating to recyclables that was going to be my amendment. But I think it's an acceptable measure anyway. Having said that, I support this 100 percent. Thank you. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair Chung. Ms. Eoff. MS. EOFF: Okay. Mr. Chung, I was kind of confused too, because in Bill 74 you don't see the entire code section. We're only looking at the parts that are being amended. But if you look at the whole chapter that was amended previously by whatever it was, Bill 13, those terms are in there. Because I had do that too, I was kind of going. "What does recyclable mean." And I mean we were changing the definition, but I didn't know where it was in the original. So I think in the future it would be better to have the bill as amended attached here for Page 7 AWEEMC-5 June 3, 2019 reference. I don't know, I thought we used to do that. So that would have been easier to see everything was going on, rather than having to back and look into the code. But I just wanted to say that I think there was a lot of fear, when people first heard we were going to be going into the bill and making amendments. But I think actually it is mostly clarifications, and as Mr. Richards had said there is no penalty or fine in the uses of certain compostable and recyclable materials. But I think that clearing it up so that it matches what our definition in the county program is, is the right way to go. So I'll be supporting this, and I hope to do more talk stories with people who are still a little bit concerned, so they can understand. Actually some of the stuff that's in here, I think is an improvement on the original. So thank you. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Eoff. Chair Chung. MR. CHUNG: Oh, yeah. I just wanted to make a comment to what Ms. Eoff said. I wasn't working off this bill, I was working off the original bill. Which was an entirely new article, yeah. Unnumbered, and so that's what I worked off of and that's not in there. Thank you. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ms. Lee Loy. MS. LEE LOY: Thank you, Chair. The one thing good about previous Bill 13 was a phenomenal editorial cartoon that came out about Chair Chung. Floating in a Styrofoam cup with turtles and fishes, looking very sad. And according to Chair Chung that was his very first editorial cartoon in all his of service on the Council. Like Chair Chung, I didn't support Bill 13 at that time. There was just far too many unintended consequences, and specifically as related to our food industry locally. So with that, I will be supporting this Bill 74. Aside from everything that the rest of my colleagues have mentioned about cleaning up the bill, but also providing our local businesses with what I believe is staying power as far as competing. Not only locally, but in our state and international markets. This is the kind of economic development that I want to see for Hawaii Island, is where our manufactures of local products can compete internationally. The other reason too, I will be supporting this was this entire the prior bill was kind of predicated on a composting facility that we have not been able to stand up. And in this iteration of Bill 74 it actually allows the county to stand up a full scale composting program, and then allow for new opportunities for recycling. Where as prior to this, they were trying to stand them up together. And I always saw that problematic, because how do you have our local businesses get ready, when we don't know what the composting program looks like. It was off the rails in my Page 8 AWEEMC-5 June 3, 2019 humble opinion. We need the county's composting programs stood up and some very hard rails on what our local businesses need to do to stay within those guidelines, and then still allow the ability to compete locally within our state but internationally. So with that Mr. Richards, I will be sorting this and going forward, look forward to really more economic revitalization from our local businesses. Thank you, I yield. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Lee Loy. Mr. Richards. MR. RICHARDS: Yeah, thank you, Chair. Just as some procedural, and I do appreciate the comments from my fellow Council Members going forward and getting some things fixed. In order to get this to Council and so we can finally get it approval. A few things I wanted to say, and I don't know if we really need to read them in Chair or not. A little bit of latitude and a little bit direction Clerk. First of all Communication 301.1 is a communication from Director Kucharski concerning this bill. And he had raised a question about the verbiage that we fixed with my communication there by amending the bill. Secondly, Communication 301.2 is a letter back from the Environmental Management Commission that our bill needed to go through. And they had reviewed the bill, and had accepted it without any revisions. So that's all been done, so I wanted my fellow Council Members just to be aware of that, and the record to reflect that it's been done through the commission. So it's ready to go to Council with a positive recommendation. So with that Chair, I yield. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. It was a good discussion. Anyone else? I have a few things to say. Mr. Richards, I appreciate you spearheading this and getting this done. And I very much appreciate seeing the business members come out in the community, and expressing their concerns of what was happening and giving us a chance to remedy that. I myself am a business owner, and all these to go items and compostables and recyclables are an interesting element of our business and a necessary element of our business. And I think we can go further with this bill, and I think that almost everyone I talked to is more than willing to eliminate as much as they can from a waste stream. Even if it means affecting their bottom line a little bit, because we understand that this an island and we live here. And there's only so much waste we can pile in the holes before we fill them up. And I heard that from almost everyone I talked to, and they're willing to go there as long as we have an industry that can back us with what we need to put our products in a disposable food -ware or recyclable food -ware of some sort. So I was really happy to hear that from our business members on this island. Again, Mr. Richards, thank you. And I am going to call for the vote. All those in favor? Page 9 AWEEMC-5 Vote on Bill 74: Draft 2 (Approved) June 3, 2019 The motion to recommend passage of Bill 74, as amended to Draft 2, on first reading was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards, Villegas, and Acting Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 3:52 p.m., Ms. Poindexter moved to MENT: adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Richards and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Richards Villegas, and Acting Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We are adjourned. Approved: 10 1 00, Mr. Aerbert M. "TA" Richards, III, Chair Agriculture, Wat r, Energy and Environmentalanagement Committee HR/rk .14 V6., tq (Date) Page 10