Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing, to which was referred H.B. No. 2569, H.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish requirements for the use of the term "Niihau" in connection with the offer or sale of jewelry and seashell products.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs testified in support of this measure. The Department of Agriculture commented on the measure. Eleven individuals opposed the measure.

Your Committee finds that true Niihau shells are rare and precious commodities, and that the collection of shells and the making of Niihau shell lei are Native Hawaiian cultural traditions. Your Committee further finds that it is necessary to establish requirements for the use of the term "Niihau" in connection with seashells and seashell products in order to protect the integrity of Niihau shells, in the same way that statutory protections have been established for Hawaii-made products, Kona coffee, and koa wood products.

This measure prohibits the offer, display or sale of jewelry or seashell products described, labeled, or identified using the term "Niihau", unless one hundred per cent of the shells in the product are harvested from Niihau, or its waters or beaches, and the product is made entirely within the State. Additionally, this measure allows the use of the term "Niihau" to describe the percentage of Niihau seashells in a product that consists of at least eighty per cent Niihau shells and that is made entirely within the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure to:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2569, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2569, H.D. 1, S.D. 1.