STAND. COM. REP. NO.  560-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   H.B. No. 2517

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Agriculture, to which was referred H.B. No. 2517 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO INVASIVE SPECIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to clarify the laws relating to the importation or sale of restricted plants and noxious weeds.  Specifically, this bill, among other things:

     (1)  Clarifies that restricted plants or any portion thereof shall not be imported into, offered for sale, or sold in the state without a permit issued by rule;

     (2)  Clarifies that plants can be placed on the restricted plant list because the plants themselves may be detrimental or potentially harmful; and

     (3)  Prohibits the sale or offer of sale within the state of any noxious weeds or any portion thereof.

     The Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Department of Land and Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, Conservation Council for Hawaii, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, and Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, supported this bill.  The Department of Agriculture and Hawaii Audubon Society supported this bill with amendments. 

     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting the explicit prohibition on the sale or offer of sale of restricted plants in the state without a permit issued by rule and, instead, allowing DOA to regulate or prohibit the sale of specific plants on the list of restricted plants by rule;

     (2)  Clarifying that plants can be placed on the restricted plant list because the plants themselves may be detrimental or potentially harmful to agriculture, horticulture, the environment, or animal or public health;

     (3)  Allowing noxious weeds to be imported only for research, by permit, while retaining the prohibition on the sale  or offer of sale of noxious weeds in the state;

     (4)  Clarifying that any propagative portions of Salvinia molesta or Salvinia minima and Pistia stratiotes plants are prohibited from import or sale within the state; and

     (5)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for style, clarity, and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Agriculture that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2517, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2517, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Agriculture,

____________________________

CLIFT TSUJI, Chair