The Policy Committee on Environmental and Natural Resource Management met on September 15, 2026, to consider two bills: Bill 191, which amends erosion and sedimentation control enforcement, and Bill 183, which proposes increases to wastewater service rates and creates a new hotel rate class. Bill 191 was passed with an amendment and recommended to the full council. Bill 183 was postponed to the October 6, 2026 hearing following extensive public testimony and council discussion.
15th time is 127 p.m. Uh we are here in the Hilo chambers and joined by one of our council members in Kona chamber. Chair, sorry, point of information. We're getting started. If everyone can quiet down, thank you. Thank you. Um we are beginning the ninth session of the policy committee on environmental management and natural resource management here today in Hilo Chambers. We have Councilmember Kirkowitz, Councilmember O'Neshi, Councilmember Inaba, Councilmember Kimball. And shortly to join us again will be Councilmember Kagiwata and Councilmember Conley E. Kleinfelder as well as Councilmember Galimba joining us from our Kona Chambers, Councilmember Houstis. I myself am Rebecca Viegas, and I am chair of this committee today. With that, we call this meeting to order, and I will hand it over to our clerk to read in the first item of business. So check with Mr. Aracelli. I believe we do have some testimony for this. Oh, my apologies. Yes, testimony. Thank you so much, madam chair. Uh knowing that we do have one testifier here in the Hilo chamber, we do have a couple via Zoom. What we'll do is we'll start with our testifier in Hilo and then transition to our Zoom testifiers. With that, Del Otsuka is our first testifier on Bill 183 to be followed by Keikoa McClellan. Dell, when you're ready to begin, please introduce yourself and you'll have three minutes. Good afternoon. Um good to see you again. My name is Del Otsuka, and I'm here this afternoon to oppose Bill 183, which is fundamentally flawed because it functions as an archaic flat rate tax mechanism masquerading as infrastructure utility management. It reverses the economic polluter pays principle. Standard municipal infrastructure policies are built on volumetric metering, where entitled where entities that create the most physical waste pay the highest share. Bill 183 detaches cost from volume entirely. It treats a high volume resource-heavy commercial mega laundry facility identically to a low flow water restricted eco room. It penalizes capital efficiency. When local businesses invest capital into green infrastructures, such as low-flow gray water filtration, high efficiency plumbing, and strict water conservation systems, as demanded by Bill 66. They reduce the physical strain on the county system. Bill 183 locks in a static unielding penalty per unit, meaning the returns on investment for eco upgrades drops to zero. So much for zero waste mission statement. Bill 66 legally mandated the Hawaii County must design business tool kits, offer infrastructure priority, and create economic incentives for businesses practicing regenerate regenerative tourism and strict water conservation. Our own SCP hotel is the living blueprint of what your general plan demands. And way before this mandate was made. Following natural disasters, they committed 100% of the restoration funding to local big island contractors, suppliers, and artisans. They have multi-decade employees. Why? Because they invest, they look at them as long-term stakeholders, because they are. So I asked the county many times to please hire. SCP Hotel was recognized as the first property in the entire state of Hawaii to achieve silver benchmark status from Earth Check and top-tier curator elite certification from the Hawaii Tourism Authority. We should be very proud. 30 seconds, please. Council members were hesitant to vote yes, vote no today. And because I don't have much time, uh I wish you read my written testimony too. Because those who voted yes. I mean, hey, don't this is sloppy bill. It's not ready for your final vote.