Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Media, Arts, Science, and Technology, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 224 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to support the efforts of the Hawaii Biotech Policy Forum to convene key stakeholders on the use of genetically engineered (GE) crops in Hawaii.

The Department of Agriculture, the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, the Hawaii Farm Bureau, the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs (HIPA), and the Maui County Farm Bureau submitted testimony in support of this measure. One individual submitted testimony in opposition to this measure. The Hawaii Alliance for Responsible Technology and Science and Life of the Land submitted comments on this measure.

The use of biotechnology in plant and food production is a rapidly growing phenomenon that is impacting local, national, and global food products and markets. There are currently GE crops growing in Hawaii, and Hawaii has the distinction of hosting the most "open-air" field test sites of GE crops in the nation. The abundance of GE test sites has mobilized public interest groups to oppose the "open-air" testing and create GE-free movements, and there has been great debate on agricultural policies regarding GE crops.

Your Committees find that the socio-economic balance and disputes between GE-free or GE-inclusive agricultural policy, or a variation thereof, will be fiercely debated, and the social, environmental, economic, health, and safety impacts of such a policy are enormous. Thus, this measure provides support to the efforts of the Hawaii Biotech Policy Forum to convene key stakeholders to discuss the use of GE plants and livestock on the island of Kauai.

Your Committees noted testimony from the HIPA explaining that the Hawaii Biotech Policy Forum held its first meeting on March 29, 2005 in Lihue, Kauai. At the meeting, members of the forum changed the scope of the project by limiting it to create a deliberative forum on the use of biotechnology in crops for food production and use for the island of Kauai. Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure to reflect the amended scope created by the Hawaii Biotech Policy Forum.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Water, Land, and Agriculture and Media, Arts, Science, and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 224, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 224, S.D. 1.