SB719

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	719
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to invasive species.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the State has become infested by the Caribbean tree frog (eleutherodactylus coqui) or more commonly known as coqui frogs, since their accidental introduction on the island of Hawaii in the early 1990s. In early 1992, there were only sporadic sightings of coqui frogs. Since then, the coqui frog population has grown exponentially. Currently, there are over one hundred fifty established specific sites infested with coqui frogs on the island of Hawaii.

In their native habitat in Puerto Rico, coqui frog populations can reach densities greater than eight thousand per acre and can consume an estimated forty-seven thousand five hundred preys per night. It is estimated that the coqui frog population on the island of Hawaii could reach ten times the reported amount in the native forests of Puerto Rico because Hawaii does not have any of the coqui frog's natural predators. The coqui frog population is in such high concentrations that the sounds they emit have been measured at sustained levels exceeding the department of health's maximum permissible sound level of seventy decibels. Thus, the frogs have become a threat to human health and welfare and have unreasonably interfered with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property.

The coqui frog was declared an agricultural pest in Hawaii on September 27, 2001, and shipments of plants infested with coqui frogs were subject to quarantine pursuant to chapter 150A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and sections 4-72-3 and 4-72-4, Hawaii Administrative Rules. The coqui frog has a great potential to negatively impact the sales of Hawaii's floriculture industry, which totaled $61,187,000 in 2002.

In the county of Kauai, only one coqui frog colony is known and documented, which is contained on fifteen acres in Lawai. Additional funding will assist in the control and complete eradication of that colony and prevent the frogs from overrunning the island like it has on the island of Hawaii.

The purpose of this Act is to appropriate funds to the county of Kauai to assist in the control and eradication of the coqui frogs in Lawai.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $300,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009, for the control and eradication of the coqui frog population on the island of Kauai.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the county of Kauai for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________