Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 1301 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to educate the public about the invasive species known as the coqui frog and to fund a statewide eradication program.

The Hawaii County Council, The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation, Big Island Farm Bureau, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, Back to Eden, Hawaii Pest Control Association, Hawaii Invasive Species Management & Education Corporation, Hawaii Association of Realtors, Maui Invasive Species Committee, and four concerned citizens submitted testimony in support of this bill. The Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture supported the intent of the bill. The Institute for the Study of Culturogenic Diseases and three concerned citizens submitted testimony in opposition to the bill.

In 2003 the Legislature established the Hawaii Invasive Species Council (Council) and found "the silent invasion of Hawaii by alien invasive species is the single greatest threat to Hawaii's economy, natural environment, and the health and lifestyle of Hawaii's people and visitors." The Council provides the institutional framework for leadership and coordination of a statewide invasive species prevention and control program among the federal, state, and county levels of government, the University of Hawaii and nongovernmental organizations, to maximize limited resources to address the invasive species challenge.

Your Committee finds that it is necessary to accelerate response, detection, and control efforts of priority invasive species, specifically the coqui frog. Therefore, in addition to the amounts requested by the Hawaii Invasive Species Council for the biennial period, the purpose of this bill is to appropriate additional funds specifically for response and control efforts for programs and initiatives that are found to be the most effective in the control or eradication of priority invasive species including the coqui frog.

Your Committee has amended the bill by:

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Agriculture that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1301, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1301, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.