STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3297

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2517

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs and Energy and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 2517, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to:

     (1)  Authorize the Department of Agriculture to regulate or prohibit the sale of specific plants designated as restricted plants;

     (2)  Prohibit the sale of noxious weeds; and

     (3)  Recognize that designated restricted plants can be pests or be hosts for pests.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Agriculture, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i, Hawaii Audubon Society, Conservation Council for Hawai‘i, Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, and a member of the Hawai‘i County Council.

     Your Committees find that presently, the Department of Agriculture can regulate the importation and movement of restricted plants, but has no authority to regulate the sale of restricted plants.  Your Committees believe that it is to the benefit of the State to provide the Department of Agriculture the authority to regulate the sale of restricted plants.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs and Energy and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2517, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2517, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs and Energy and Environment,

____________________________ RON MENOR, Chair

____________________________ JILL TOKUDA, Chair