The following testimony was submitted by the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii for consideration by the Senate Committee on Ways and Means on March 31, 2025.
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March 31, 2025, 10:02 a.m.
Hawaii State Capitol
Conference Room 211 and Videoconference
To: Senate Committee on Ways and Means
Sen. Donovan M. Dela Cruz, Chair
Sen. Sharon Y. Moriwaki, Vice Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: HB735 HD2 SD1 — RELATING TO WASTEWATER
Aloha Chair Dela Cruz, Vice Chair Moriwaki and other members of the Committee,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii supports HB735 HD2 SD1, which would allow a septic system to serve up to five bedrooms, regardless of the number of dwellings attached to it.
Current state Department of Health rules allow certain septic systems to have five bedrooms connected to them; however, the department’s definition of “dwelling unit” excludes certain types of living arrangements.[1]
The rules consider a dwelling unit as “any habitable room or group of habitable rooms located within a dwelling and forming a single habitable unit with facilities that are used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking and eating.”[2]
But this language excludes guest houses that do not have kitchens and dwellings that might have extra rooms located outside of them, such as a completely detached room.
Amending the definition would give small-scale builders more flexibility in constructing housing to meet their needs, county zoning rules and individual lot configurations.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas
Director of Strategic Campaigns
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
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[1] “Wastewater Systems,” Title 11, Chapter 62, Hawaii Administrative Rules, May 21, 2016, p. 49.
[2] Ibid, p. 10.
