Hawaii gets federal money to fix cesspools for low-income homes
S. 5577 — A bill to amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide grants to upgrade or convert small-capacity cesspools for households in the State of Hawaii. · Filed by Mazie Hirono (D-HI) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Sep 29, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill gives Hawaii $20 million per year from 2028 to 2032. The money helps low-income households fix or replace broken cesspools. The federal government pays 75% of the cost. Households and the state pay 25%. The bill focuses on cesspools with the biggest health risks.
Who it affects
Low-income households in Hawaii get help with safer wastewater systems. The state of Hawaii and local wastewater groups must run the program.
One thing to notice
Households must pay 25% of the cost themselves. Some low-income families may struggle to pay their share.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Sep 29, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 29, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- cesspools — Underground pits that hold human waste from homes not connected to sewers
- federal government — The U.S. government in Washington, D.C.
- low-income households — Families that earn less money and need financial help
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,575 characters) on Oct 16, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Hawaii gets federal money to fix cesspools for low-income homes” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5577/simple Report an error
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