Hawaii bills introduced after molasses spill die

HONOLULU — A massive molasses spill in Honolulu Harbor last fall led Hawaii lawmakers to introduce legislation designed to prevent a repeat performance.

But the proposals they crafted failed to survive the 2014 legislative session.

Three bills were introduced in the Hawaii House and another two were proposed in the Senate. But all of those measures died in the Senate at various stages, according to the Legislature’s website.

The bills aimed to make government agencies and contractors report issues quickly and to take money collected from fines and spend it on conservation and coral reefs.

The proposal that made it the farthest would have required the University of Hawaii to update a report on the state’s emergency response to spills. But that bill died in a conference committee right before a deadline.