March 18, 2026, 9:00 a.m.
Hawaii State Capitol
Conference Room 430 and Videoconference
To: House Committee on Housing
Rep. Luke Evslin, Chair
Rep. Tyson Miyake, Vice Chair
From: Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ted Kefalas, Director of Strategic Campaigns
RE: TESTIMONY WITH COMMENTS ON SB2155 SD1 — RELATING TO WASTEWATER SYSTEMS
Aloha Chair, Vice Chair and other Committee Members,
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii offers comments on — and an amendment to — SB2155 SD1, which would require the Hawaii Department of Health to allow up to five dwelling units to connect to an individual wastewater system, provided that no more than six total bedrooms are connected to the system.
This bill could augment Act 224 (2025), which changed state law to allow up to five bedrooms to connect to an individual wastewater system regardless of the number of dwelling units.
However, instead of limiting the number of dwelling units as this bill proposes, Grassroot recommends the bill simply be rewritten to update the text of Act 224 to allow six bedrooms instead of five.
Doing this would let Hawaii residents currently using septic or other approved wastewater systems have maximum flexibility in adding to their homes or building second, smaller homes on their land.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Ted Kefalas
Director of Strategic Campaigns
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
