RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, despite the efforts of more than twenty state, federal, and private agencies, invasive species enter Hawaii at a rate that is approximately two million times more rapid than the natural rate; and

WHEREAS, the Federal Office of Technology Assessment declared Hawaii's invasive species problem to be the worst in the nation; and

WHEREAS, a federal quarantine is imposed in Hawaii on the movement of all passengers and cargo leaving Hawaii en route to mainland United States to protect the mainland from identified insect pests; and

WHEREAS, the majority of products that are shipped or carried into Hawaii from the mainland and elsewhere are not inspected before arriving in our State; and

WHEREAS, in 1994, nearly eighty percent of the invasive species that the State was able to intercept arrived by aircraft as cargo, in passenger bags, or as stowaways on the aircraft itself; and

WHEREAS, ships and shipped cargo accounted for another fifteen percent of the intercepted invasive species that year; and

WHEREAS, postal inspectors believe currently that the mail may account for as much as twenty percent of the plant and animal pests getting into Hawaii each year; and

WHEREAS, the invasion of Hawaii by insects, disease organisms, snakes, weeds, and other pests is the single greatest threat to Hawaii's economy, natural environment, and the health and lifestyle of the State's residents; and

WHEREAS, millions of dollars were spent on post-arrival efforts to prevent, control, and eradicate the spread of invasive species throughout the State; and

WHEREAS, Formosan ground termites cause nearly $150,000,000 each year in treatment and damage repair costs; and

WHEREAS, the agricultural industry estimates that it loses $300,000,000 each year in revenue from potential markets that refuse Hawaii exports because of invasive fruit flies that have infested many island crops; and

WHEREAS, the coqui frog has infested numerous areas of the State affecting people's health, property values, and tourism; and

WHEREAS, the State needs to take more aggressive action to prevent invasive species from entering Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, the State should institute an incoming quarantine and inspection regime comparable to the outgoing regime that exists for the movement of people and cargo from Hawaii to the mainland; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the House of Representatives concurring, to support the enactment of the federal Hawaii Invasive Species Prevention Act, H.R. 3468, currently pending in Congress, that would establish certain federal findings and grant authority for Hawaii to institute an incoming quarantine and inspection regime comparable to the regime that exists for the movement of people and cargo from Hawaii to the mainland; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the members of Hawaii's Congressional delegation, the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, the Governor, the Chairperson of the

Department of Agriculture, the Director of Transportation, and the Chairperson of the Hawaii Invasive Species Council.

Report Title:

Invasive Species; Quarantine and Inspection